Recap: Thunder at Rockets

By Nick Gallo and Paris Lawson | okcthunder.com

The Thunder traveled to Houston to face the Rockets on the second night of a back-to-back. The two youngest teams in the NBA faced off for the first time this season – both teams coming off a strong win the night before. 

As is usual in the NBA, Saturday night’s contest was a game of runs that was predicated on volatile shooting. Houston burst out to a quick 14-4 edge, but the Thunder responded with a 9-0 run in the first quarter as well. The game turned in the second quarter as Houston ripped off a 29-7 run behind some excellent three-point shooting, while the Thunder’s jumpers didn’t drop. 

While the Thunder continued pushing and didn’t fold, getting contributions off the bench from Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, ultimately the comeback attempt came up short with a 118-105 loss to Houston. 

Paris: After falling behind 10 points in the opening four minutes of action, the Thunder called a timeout to settle the game. Out of the break, OKC erupted on a 9-0 run that started on the defensive end. Three consecutive possessions with a steal and three quality shots on the opposite end suddenly shifted the game back to a one-possession contest. By the end of the first quarter, the Thunder forced eight turnovers by the Rockets which translated to nine points for OKC. 

Nick: The Thunder continued to hang in there and play its brand of basketball, and it resulted in another flurry of scoring for the team’s leading scorer - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who racked up 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting in 10 first quarter minutes. That marked the 22nd time this season that Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 10 or more points in a single quarter. He finished the game with his league-leading 14th 30-point game of the season, with 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting. 

Nick: Aaron Wiggins checked into the game after being out of the rotation for a few contests and came enduring the second quarter and made an immediate impact. Wiggins helped force a turnover on defense right away, then buried a catch and shoot corner 3 from the left side a few possessions later. Wiggins came into the game shooting 43.5 percent on catch and shoot looks, with 56 percent of his 3s coming from the corner. Wiggins finished the game with 15 points in 23 minutes off the bench. 

Paris: At the end of the second quarter, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander attacked the middle of the floor. Getting swarmed by a host of Rockets uniforms, Gilgeous-Alexander snapped the ball to Jalen Williams who was waiting open in the dunkers spot. J-Dub elevated and finished a strong layup through a contest which marked his second strong finish at the rim of the night. In the early going, Williams ripped away a strong offensive rebound for an extra two points. The 6-foot-6 rookie finished the half with six points and a pair of offensive boards. 

Nick: Excellent offensive sequence by the Thunder on the opening possession of the third quarter that saw Lu Dort break down the defense and find Jeremiah Robinson-Earl for a dunk on a baseline cut to the rim. Dort picked up two assists in the game, adding to his career-best 2.1 assists per game this season. Robinson-Earl came into the game leading the Thunder in dunks on the year, as he continues to refine his game and become an efficient cog in the Thunder’s offense. 

Paris: Kenyon Martin Jr. attacked the left side of the floor with a wide-open lane ahead of him and big ambitions for a finish. As he elevated to throw down a one-handed slam, Thunder forward Darius Bazley met him at the rim and completely smothered his dunk attempt. Bazley – who is one of the league's most accurate shot blockers with more blocks than fouls – once again demonstrated his ability to contest shots with discipline and logged his fourth consecutive game with one or more blocks. 

Paris: Thunder sharp-shooter Isaiah Joe snatched the ball away as Tari Eason threw an errant pass. The steal resulted in a layup on the other end for Aaron Wiggins. It was the second steal of the game for Joe whose activity was on full display defensively - in addition to his two steals, he also stepped in to take a charge in transition on Jalen Green and by the end of the night, he finished with six points, three assists and three rebounds. 

Nick: It was too little too late, but the Thunder threw one last punch with an 11-2 run midway through the fourth quarter. That burst helped cut the lead down to just 14 after the deficit was as high as 27. The Thunder benefitted from Jalen Williams drawing a take foul, then soaring for a defensive rebound and getting fouled on the play, leading to two more free throws. Williams scored 11 in the game, putting the rookie into double figures in seven of his last nine games, a stretch in which he’s averaging 11.8 points per game. Williams came in averaging the fifth most points per game among all rookies this season.

Mark Daigneault: "There's volatility with shooting, but there's also a lot of things you can control. I didn't think we did the stuff that we can control defensively, early especially. A lot of shooting comes down to rhythm and confidence and I thought they were able to kind of drum up some rhythm and confidence early in the game. These are good players, good shooters, so it's hard to turn them off at that point."

Aaron Wiggins: "The game isn't over until the clock hits zeros across the board. So regardless of the score, regardless of the energy, our mindsets towards anything you got to play through the buzzer."

Josh Giddey: "Credit to them (the Rockets), but we just we had to get the car back on the road a bit earlier than what we tried to do. But we fought for the whole 48 minutes. We tried to make run late in that fourth, but we dug ourselves too deep of a hole to get out of." 

The Thunder’s quick two-game road swing continues with a trip to New Orleans to take on the Pelicans on Monday. It’ll be the third game in four nights for OKC before returning home. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. CT.