The Thunder took care of home court in an up-tempo game against a talented New Orleans Pelicans squad, clamping down on defense both in transition and down the stretch, when it forced four turnovers in the final three minutes. Offensively, the Thunder kept the ball flowing and knocked down 15 three-pointers while the bench racked up 53 points.
Game Flow Heads were turned the right direction, defenders in place, squared up to their assignments. Voices chattered to get everyone matched up. Coming into the game against New Orleans, the Thunder’s main focus was getting back in transition to minimize easy run-outs and back-breaking three-pointers. That goal was accomplished and then some in a Saturday matinee victory over the Pelicans.
The Thunder took charge with a 10-2 burst in the opening three minutes, controlling the tempo and getting the ball into the hands of its young, vibrant, athletic play-finishers. Hamidou Diallo had a trio of nasty dunks both in the halfcourt and in transition, but the true standout was rookie Darius Bazley, who racked up a career-high 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including a career-best 3 makes from behind the arc. Bazley, who beat the first quarter buzzer with a three, became the youngest player in Thunder history (19 years, 143 days) to score in double figures.
“(Chris Paul) just told me ‘We’re passing you the ball for a reason, just keep shooting the ball’, I just had that in the back of my head,” said Bazley. “Just knowing that my teammates have my back and know that they trust me, it allows me to be a lot more comfortable and confident on the court.”
“It just shows that confidence is coming for him,” said point guard Chris Paul.
Back and forth the game went through the middle quarters, with New Orleans hammering the Thunder on the defensive glass to the tune of 21 second chance points. The flow was ragged to start the third, but an 11-3 burst powered by Bazley to end the third quarter set up a decisive conclusion down the stretch for the home team.
Decisive Moments
With the Thunder’s lead at a precarious 101-98, Nerlens Noel tied up Josh Hart for a jump ball and won the subsequent jump ball, the tip came out to Paul, who used a quick-thinking move to free himself up for a jumper. Recognizing the positioning of players at the top of the key, Paul took a couple dribbles right and buried a 27-foot three-pointer from straight away with 4:35 to go, capping a 15-point scoring night for the veteran.
“When we’re moving the ball and setting screens and moving fast, it’s hard to guard us,” said Paul.
That was followed up by a jab-step three-pointer by Danilo Gallinari (16 points, 5-of-9 shooting) with 4:03 remaining, then three fantastic plays by Dennis Schröder in the final 150 seconds sealed the deal. The electric German point guard drew an offensive foul by hustling around a screen with 2:22 remaining, stripped the ball off of Pelicans center Jahlil Okafor’s leg with 1:30 to go and then attacked for a driving layup with 1:12 remaining to seal the deal.
“Dennis is a pest man,” Paul grinned. “Dennis is one of those guys I hate to play against but love to have your team… Dennis is a starter in this league and comes off of our bench.”
Play of the Game
Diallo, who played some stretches at the power forward spot on the front line alongside Gallinari in extreme Thunder smallball, rolled to the rim and got blocked. Undeterred, the second-year guard hustled to get the ball back, looped around his defender and back into the middle of the lane. The paint was wide open and Diallo reared back and delivered a ferocious one-handed second chance slam dunk.
Stat of the Night9 It started with a screen and roll up top with Nerlens Noel, as Paul drew both defenders and used two hands to bounce a pass through the middle of the lane to Noel for a massive slam dunk. Chris Paul’s playmaking continued a possession later when he dished off to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (23 points, 8-of-14 shooting) and resulted in a pair of crucial Gallinari three-pointers just before halftime. All in all, Paul racked up nine assists to go with 3-of-5 three-point shooting of his own and three steals in the game.
“Chris is Chris. He is who he is for a reason. He’s the anchor of our team,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
“Just movement and playing with pace,” said Paul as keys to the offense. “This is actually a good team for us to play against because it gets us playing faster. With the young guys we got and the athleticism, if we play fast like this night-in and night-out we’ll give ourselves a better chance.”
Quotes of the Night
“It feels great, especially doing it home, that’s great. In front of our crowd is what we want.” – forward Danilo Gallinari
“It was just us sticking to the game plan and then us just being smart defensively. We have a lot of guys with high basketball IQ and it showed down the stretch.” – guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Looking Ahead
The Thunder will get two days in between games before closing out this homestand with a clash against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday Nov 5.