Recap: Thunder 119, Spurs 111

By Nick Gallo and Paris Lawson | okcthunder.com

For a decade and a half in Oklahoma City, the Thunder has leaned on its resilience and togetherness in the face of adversity. On a quick one-game homestand for the Thunder on Wednesday’s Native American Heritage night against the San Antonio Spurs, that mentally tough attitude was demonstrated to dramatic effect. 

OKC, playing without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (left hip contusion), committed to the same downhill approach and ball movement style to generate offense that it has used all season. The Thunder finished with 70 points in the paint, the fourth time it has reached that mark this year. Defensively, the Thunder erased a 20-point third quarter Spurs lead by holding the Spurs to just 34 points after halftime by making gritty hustle plays. 

In crunch time, the Thunder got a massive defensive stop by Lu Dort, who drew his 31st offensive foul of the season by absorbing an elbow by Devin Vassell. Rookie Jalen Williams then attacked on the left side and hit a short push shot and got a two-for-one for OKC for good measure to make it 115-111 for OKC with 30.2 seconds to go. The Thunder then gutted out a defensive stop and hit the free throws down the stretch to put the game away, 119-111. 

Paris: The Thunder’s Moments of Truth come in different forms throughout any given game. Typically when Lu Dort is involved, the Moment of Truth results in a charge being drawn under the rim. In this instance, Dort was responsible for a massive block on a dunk attempt by Isaiah Roby. The play resulted in a dunk on the other end of the floor by Ousmane Dieng and helped fuel OKC’s fast-paced offense in the first quarter. 

Nick: The Thunder picked up right where it left off in New Orleans on the offensive glass, racking up six extra chances and scoring nine second-chance points in the first quarter alone. This effort to start a single-game homestand at Paycom Center came 48 hours after the Thunder out-rebounded an extremely physical Pelicans team on the offensive glass to the tune of 18 to14. Aleksej Pokuševski led the way with three offensive boards of his own, keeping offensive possessions alive and the scoreboard moving. 

Nick: Incredible moment of scrappiness by Tre Mann in transition defense, where he stepped up on an attacking Tre Jones and simply snatched the ball right out of the Spurs guard’s hands. On the other end of the floor, Mann maintained a consistent attacking approach and finished at the rim on three separate occasions. On the season, Mann is shooting 70 percent in the restricted area, an impressive mark for anyone, let alone a smaller guard. 

Paris: Both the Thunder and the Spurs rank in the top five in the league in pace of play and San Antonio has lived up to that identity with 11 fast break points in the first half. Beyond that, many of San Antonio’s looks have come within the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. The fast decision making and speed up the floor led to a litany of quick-score opportunities for San Antonio who poured in 42 points in the second quarter. 

Nick: Beautiful ball movement by the Thunder on a late second quarter possession, as the ball hit the hands of all five players. Dort swung it to Giddey, who passed to Jalen Williams, who attack, spun and found a cutting Jeremiah Robinson-Earl on a baseline cut from the dunker spot for an open layup. Those were two of the Thunder’s 34 points in the paint in the first half, continuing OKC’s identity even without Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Nick: Josh Giddey picked out an excellent one-handed backdoor lefty bounce pass to Lu Dort for an easy bucket. That dish was part of a 9-0 Thunder burst in the first two minutes of the third quarter. The run extended with a kick-out 3 from Lu Dort to Jalen Williams to extend the run to 14-2. In the quarter, the Thunder outscored the Spurs 28-19 and held San Antonio to just four assists after they picked up 20 in the first half. The Thunder came into the game as the highest scoring third quarter team, with the best average point differential (+4.4) in the third quarter on the season. 

Paris: Tre Mann attacked hard into the middle of the lane. Unbeknownst to the Spurs defense, rookie Jalen Williams was sneaking behind the back line without any resistance. Mann zipped the ball to Williams who elevated and threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk that injected much needed energy and momentum into the Thunder offense. For the night, Williams reached a career high 27 points on 11-for-15 shooting. 

Nick: The Thunder outscored the Spurs 19-6 to start the fourth quarter, continuing the momentum from the third quarter by playing with its desired cadence on offense. Downhill drives led to finishes a the rim or kickouts back to the perimeter, where the Thunder got the blender going, moving the Spurs defense around for further openings. The sequence to start the fourth was accentuated by a Jalen Williams to Ousmane Dieng pick and roll and reverse layup on the rookie-to-rookie action. 

Paris: Josh Giddey stole the Spurs inbounds pass and floats the ball in on the other end. On the next possession, Darius Bazley sacrificed his body to take a charge on a Spurs drive. The Thunder answered with a 3-pointer by Tre Mann to give OKC a lead. Immediately following, Bazley stepped up yet again at the rim, this time with a massive block that resulted in an easy layup on the other end for OKC. The sequence proved to be a microcosm of how the Thunder turned the game around in the second half – by digging in on the defensive end and letting stops fuel the offense. 

Mark Daigneault on the second-half effort by the Thunder…

“We just had way more of a care factor and we were way tougher. We shut the paint off, shut the glass off, contested everything. We were not as tough as we aspire to be at all in the first half and I credit our guys –they got the car back on the road from the first possession of the second half they were into it and sustained it throughout.”

Jalen Williams on the switch in the second half…

“We don't like starting down obviously, but once again we were pretty resilient, that we had a good first first five minutes of the second half that kind of propelled us to have a lot of energy going into the rest of the game.”

After one game at home, the Thunder ships back out for its longest road stretch of the season. The five-game swing begins in Minnesota on Saturday night with a Northwest Division battle with the Timberwolves.