By Nick Gallo | Broadcast Reporter and Digital Editor | okcthunder.com
Hard-Fought Win for Thunder
For the Thunder, even the predictable can be unpredictable.
The NBA’s leader in clutch points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, was on the floor and positioned right smack dab in the middle of the lane with 3.2 seconds to go in a tie game. Just before the ball was inbounded, Gilgeous-Alexander started running towards the perimeter, not to make a catch, but to set a screen. The Portland Trail Blazers instinctively switched, but likely expected someone to screen for Shai, not the inverse. The result was a smaller defender on Gilgeous-Alexander as he cut to the left wing.
As rookie Jalen Williams inbounded the ball to Gilgeous-Alexander – the NBA’s third-leading scorer who already has a pair of game-winners under his belt – everybody in Paycom Center could feel it. Gilgeous-Alexander quickly spun over his right shoulder towards the baseline to evade a double-team, took one dribble, stopped in his tracks and buried a 14-footer as the clock expired to seal a 123-121 Thunder victory.
“I work out on that block a lot. A comfortable spot for me,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “I shoot it every day before the game. I shoot it every time I touch the court.”
“I just try to get to a shot that I’m comfortable shooting every time and live with the results,” Gilgeous-Alexander added.
Pandemonium ensued, as the crowd hugged and high-fived while Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammates mobbed him near midcourt before dousing him with water in a congratulatory ambush.
The shot made Gilgeous-Alexander one of just four Thunder players ever to hit a game-winner with one second or less remaining, as he follows in the long lineage of incredible players who have put their handprints on the Thunder organization. If the buzz inside the arena reached a deafening din before the final inbounds pass and an explosion after the ball splashed through the net, then the preceding 24 minutes operated at a nervous humming, as the score stayed within two possessions (a 6-point margin or less) for the entirety of the second half.
“It was a battle and tested our mental toughness tonight, because obviously there was a lot of swings in the game,” said head coach Mark Daigneault. “That was a tight game and it put a lot of pressure on our ability to execute on both ends of the floor. I give our guys a lot of credit, great maturity and great focus and mental toughness. It took everybody tonight.”
That type of game pressure is hard to sustain for that long, yet the youngest team in the NBA stayed poised to the very end. The Thunder drew an incredible six offensive fouls on the Blazers, including 3 by Kenrich Williams, who was as tough as nails again off the bench. On offense, the Thunder stayed committed to a balanced, ball-movement heavy style as seven different players scored in double-figures for the third time this season.
“That’s how you grow as a team, especially having young players like we do,” said Kenrich Williams. “You grow as a team and it prepares you for the future, especially where we want to be in the future.”
Gilgeous-Alexander finished this one with 35 points on 10-of-24 shooting, including a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line for his 20th game of 30-or-more points this season. But the build up to the final shot from Gilgeous-Alexander was sheer will more than it was pure talent. Despite starting the game 2-for-12 from the field, Gilgeous-Alexander manufactured the type of performance that All-Stars do, finishing the game 8-for-12 by getting to his spots in the midrange and generating enough free-throw attempts to get his jumper warmed up for closing time.
“I just tried to trust my work and do what I’m comfortable doing and not try to go anything that I don’t normally do,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
As always though, it was a full-team effort that even put the Thunder in a position for a clutch-time bucket. The second unit outscored Portland 42-26 and held serve in the fourth quarter such that Daigneault didn’t have to substitute Gilgeous-Alexander into the game until around his normal time, with about 6:23 remaining.
“Our bench kept us in the game,” Daigneault said. “Shai obviously closed that thing, but he had the energy to close it. If you have to go to guys with 10 minutes to go in the quarter it takes more gas out of the tank. The bench did a great job there on the fourth of extending that game a little bit.”
With only 30 minutes played to that point, Gilgeous-Alexander was able to keep his foot on the gas for the final sprint to the finish, even blocking an Anfernee Simons three-pointer with 46.9 seconds left to get a pivotal stop for his team. Even on a night where he nailed a game-winner, Gilgeous-Alexander recognized his position as a crucial cog within Monday night’s 10-man rotation, where each man plays off each other and sets up one another for success.
“I trust my teammates. They trust me,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “Sometimes I'm out there and we don't go on a run and they pick up the slack. Sometimes it’s vice-a-versa. That’s what we’ve got each other for.”
With 48 hours in between before the rematch with Portland in this home-home miniseries, the Thunder will have to get back to zero-and-zero, and then get ready for all that game pressure once again.
Photography by Jimmy Do | OKC Thunder
