The Drive and Dish | March 14, 2024

Shai Hits 30-plus for the 48^th Time, OKC Threads the Needle, Plus Josh and JWill Shine

The Drive and Dish is here to answer the questions that might be going through your head during a Thunder game by providing experienced insight, highlighting aspects of the game you might have missed and pulling you behind the curtain with anecdotes, analysis, and stats.   

Here’s what you need to know as the Thunder takes on the Dallas Mavericks tonight in a 9 p.m. CT exclusive broadcast on TNT.

The Thunder couldn’t quite find it’s rhythm on Tuesday night in its first meeting of the season with the Indiana Pacers, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. As OKC turns the page to square off against the Dallas Mavericks for the third time this season tonight, it can lean on the same extra efforts it used against the Pacers to again give itself a chance down the stretch. 

Whether it was Josh Giddey chasing after his own miss off the backboard, Lu Dort sprinting to the corner as a patient Jaylin Williams hit him for 3 or a series of cuts by Gordon Hayward and Aaron Wiggins, the Thunder kept its foot mashed on the pedal all night and will need to do so again in a bounce back opportunity. 

In the final moments of Tuesday night’s game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander eclipsed the 30-point mark for the 48^th time this season, setting a new Thunder record for most games of 30-or-more points in a season. Remarkably, the Thunder still has 17 games left on its schedule, so Gilgeous-Alexander is likely to blow the previous mark held by Kevin Durant out of the water. 

Against Miami, Shai tied the record by cracking the code of the Heat’s dominant defense by going for 23 points in the second half alone, hitting a series of tough jump shots in the fourth quarter. He hit a baseline jumper on the right side, then went behind the back in the midrange for another. He then set up his man for his final flurry – a stop and pop jumper on the left wing, then the dagger step-back 3 to put OKC up by seven with just 1:36 to go. 

After the game on Friday against the Heat, Gilgeous-Alexander explained his metronome-like scoring each night as a product of the consistency in his life as a whole – from what he eats, when he sleeps, how he trains, who he keeps around him and more. 

Finding the seams in Miami’s defense was no easy task throughout the 48 minutes, but the Thunder set a tone early to demonstrate it had the ability to do it. OKC’s first three baskets were all assisted, with different combinations helping to get the action going. One of the plays was a classic Josh Giddey sideline out of bounds pass where he found Gilgeous-Alexander over the top for two, and that was pay back for Shai’s assist to Josh on a dive to the rim on the Thunder’s bucket right before that. To open the scoring for OKC was another dime from Giddey, this time an electric pass to Jalen Williams that found a narrow seam in the defense and resulted in a reverse layup. 

Josh Giddey was in the mix on all three of those early possessions for the Thunder, a sign of his size, skill and acumen all finding its way into the game when he’s assertive right off the bat. That was again the case on Sunday against Memphis, when Giddey put the Thunder on the board for the first time with a very physical attack right through the heart of the Grizzlies defense, which he finished with a finger roll and through a foul. 

As that Memphis game went on, Josh reached his 50^th career double-double (in under 200 career games played) with unbelievable passes to Cason Wallace. One was a bounce pass in transition that was thrown so hard that it must have put a dent in the Paycom Center floor and the other was an eyes-in-the-back-of-his-head dish from the left wing with Wallace cutting from the right side on a back screen from Shai. Giddey’s height and vision allowed him to see over the defense and lead Wallace to two easy points. 

In six games in the month of March, Giddey is averaging 14.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists on 55.2% shooting, including 41.2% from the 3-point line. 

When Jaylin Williams returned to the lineup against the Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies after missing three games, his impact was emanating off the floor in myriad ways – his physicality was palpable when he blocked a Terry Rozier shot and when he bodied up Bam Adebayo on a post up in the first quarter. You could hear him yell out and communicate on defense to help seal off possessions, including a hearty “Me!” on a defensive board to prevent he and a teammate from knocking into each other. 

In some crucial fourth quarter moments against the Heat, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault went with the double-big lineup of JWill and Chet Holmgren, and it helped seal the deal. After Isaiah Joe’s shot from the baseline rolled off the across the rim, JWill was there to clean it up with a putback through massive contact on the back side. After the game, Gilgeous-Alexander said succinctly, “We got our bruiser back.” 

After the Thunder’s clash with the Mavericks tonight at 9 p.m. CT on TNT, OKC will square off with the Grizzlies once again on Saturday, this time in Memphis. The Thunder will then get a very rare three day break before hosting the Utah Jazz next Wednesday. Both of those games will be aired on Bally Sports Oklahoma. Follow along on our @okcthunder social accounts and stay here on the Thunder App or okcthunder.com.