Defensive Effort Lifts Thunder

By Nick Gallo and Paris Lawson | okcthunder.com

Box Score: OKC 102, SAS 90

It was the second night of a back to back for the Thunder who just 19 hours prior had taken down the Pelicans inside of Smoothie King Center. On Sunday, they faced a young San Antonio team who had just defeated the Denver Nuggets in their previous matchup and had won three of its last five matchups. 

Just like the start of the Pelicans game the night before, OKC set the tone from the outset on Sunday and jumped ahead to a 17-point lead. San Antonio threw their fair share of punches throughout the night including an 18-8 run to close out the second quarter and a run to tie the game in the middle of the third. Even still, OKC stayed the course, throwing punches of its own and ultimately walked away from AT&T Center with a 102-90 victory. 

Five players scored in double figures for the Thunder, every single player that stepped onto the floor made a 3-pointer and the bench was responsible for 40 of the 102 points on the board. Defensively, OKC forced 19 Spurs turnovers and turned them into 17 points worth of offense.

Nick: There were a lot of missed shots early on in this game, and the Thunder’s defense held up its end of the bargain by not just forcing tough misses, but cleaning up the defensive glass on nearly every opportunity it had. During one sequence the Thunder directly turned some fundamental box outs and rebounds into easy points. Lu Dort corralled a rebound and it led to Jalen Williams attacking downhill and getting fouled for two free throws. On the next defensive possession rookie Jaylin Williams made a textbook box out to snag a rebound, and on the other end the final result was a Jalen Williams putback bucket. In the first quarter the Spurs, who ranked sixth in offensive rebounding coming into the game, only snagged one offensive rebound, and got just 10 total in the game. 

Paris: Jalen Williams attacked the left side of the floor and drew the attention of multiple San Antonio defenders. Without looking, or even hesitating, the rookie whipped a pass around the bodies of the defense to Lu Dort right underneath the rim. It was a high level play by the rookie that he performed very comfortably at full speed. Whether it was attacking the basket, pulling down rebounds or getting to the free throw line, J-Dub demonstrated the various ways he can impact the game on the offensive end of the floor. For the night, Williams finished with a well-rounded 21 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.

Paris: Ousmane Dieng opened up the second quarter with a coast-to-coast layup. The rookie followed the play up with another highlight worthy sequence just a few possessions later. Aaron Wiggins pulled down an offensive rebound and sent the ball back out to the perimeter to Dieng. The 6-foot-10 forward attacked the middle of the floor and elevated for a two-handed slam. Dieng has focused his attention on playing with force and aggression offensively, not allowing contact to bump him or deter him off his course. It was that aggression that allowed Dieng to become the first Thunder player in double figures on Sunday. By halftime, Dieng racked up 11 points, five rebounds on 5-of-10 from the field. For the night, Dieng racked up a career high 17 points on 7-of-15 from the field. 

Nick: The Thunder has taken advantage of its shooters in the flow of its offense throughout the season and lately Lindy Waters III has been a featured marksman. In the second quarter the Thunder ran a play for Waters right after a timeout, getting him on a curl coming around a screen as Jaylin Williams led him into a three on the right wing that splashed through the net. On the Thunder’s next possession Waters got a look from the exact same spot but Spurs rookie Blake Wesley rushed over too aggressively and fouled him. That collision sent Waters to the line for three shots, where he made them all. Coming into the game, Waters had hit at least two threes in each of his last five appearances in the Thunder rotation, averaging 11.2 points on 45.5 percent shooting from behind the arc. On Sunday, Waters just hit the one 3, but chipped in eight of the Thunders’ 40 bench points.  

Nick: The third quarter had rookie center Jaylin Williams’ fingertips all over them as he impacted the game on both ends of the floor in the pick and roll game. This season Williams has increased his acumen of the nuances of both defending and attacking pick and rolls, which is a huge credit to the hundreds of minutes he racked up with the OKC Blue in the first few months of the year. Rolling hard to the rim, Williams got hacked on an attempt and hit both free throws. On the next possession Williams made a steal by anticipating an entry pass by the Spurs, then he proceeded to help generate baskets on three separate possessions with his screens at the top of the key. Williams capped his excellent stretch by doing what he does just about as well as anyone in the league - drawing a charge in the middle of the lane. For the game he notched nine points, five rebounds, two assists and four steals. 

Paris: After the Spurs closed the second half on an 18-8 run, the Thunder had to hold off San Antonio yet again midway through the third frame when the Spurs tied the game 59-59. That was when the Thunder went on an 8-0 run to extend its lead and regain momentum of the game. It started on the defensive end for OKC whether it was a steal by Jaylin Williams or a series of great rotations that led to a missed bucket, each stop helped OKC to hold onto its lead and head into the fourth frame ahead 78-71.

Paris: San Antonio continued to put pressure on the Thunder down the stretch of the game. The Spurs cut the lead to just eight points with two minutes left to play. On the next offensive possession, Isaiah Joe set a screen for Josh Giddey and rolled to the middle of the lane where Giddey snapped him the ball. Joe squared up to the basket, took on a crowd of Spurs’ defenders before passing the ball out to the corner where J-Dub stood wide open for a layup-line 3-pointer. The bucket was the defining moment of the game that allowed OKC to extend the lead back up to double figures with 1:17 left and ultimately take the victory.

Nick: On this two-game road trip to New Orleans and San Antonio, the Thunder’s helpside defense has been on point, digging in to make big plays around the rim. Perhaps the loudest of this back-to-back set for OKC was Lu Dort crashing over from the weak side as the “low man” to erase a driving layup attempt by Spurs big man Zach Collins. Dort was giving up 7 inches in height in the showdown, but he still climbed the ladder and swatted the shot right back into Collins’ face. On the ensuing Thunder possession Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich was whistled for a technical foul. Dort hit the free throw and on the possession that immediately followed, Jaylin Williams buried a 3 at the top of the key off a pass from Josh Giddey to give the Thunder a commanding 14-point lead with 4:11 to go. 

“The way we started the game was very positive. A tough back to back with tough travel, a short turnaround. Finished late last night, lost an hour of sleep, played at six o'clock. I thought just our readiness compared to earlier in the week in Phoenix, we brought the fight to the game and set a good tone early. We had a little bit of identity drift in the second quarter and then in the second half our defense and offense was really sharp on a night where we didn't shoot it particularly well.” –Coach Daigneault

“When everybody's scoring, it makes us harder to guard. Regardless of how we shot, I think we were able to move the ball really well, especially in key moments of the game.” –Jalen Williams 

The Thunder returns home to Oklahoma City to take on the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, but after that game the team will hit the road again. On Thursday the Thunder will head to Toronto to take on the Raptors for its only trip north of the border this season.

By Zach Beeker | OKC Thunder