Nuggets and notes
- The Oklahoma City Thunder scored 140 points and won by double digits, and this one wasn’t the most fun to watch, to be honest.
- Atlanta was without Trae Young, Jalen Johnson and Kristaps Porzingis and still absolutely lit up the Thunder’s vaunted defense. A big reason was “they just got hot, man”. Like what do you say when Nickeil Alexander-Walker nails a desperate 44-foot heave at the buzzer (while being well defended by Alex Caruso).
- The Hawks ultimately made 54 threes and converted 25 to shoot 46% from beyond the arc (that’s 46% for you math nerds). At the same time, Atlanta managed turnover margin (16 for ATL, 14 for OKC) and limited OKC’s ability to score turnovers (the Thunder were only +4 in this category). Honestly, a good recipe for staying in a game when you’re overmatched.
- Another night of Thunder dominance in the paint, putting up 70 points (even without Isaiah Hartenstein).
- The Thunder player of the game was undoubtedly Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Atlanta had no one to defend him. SGA scored 39 points in 36 minutes on 15-of-24 shooting. The MVP could have easily had 50+ if all he wanted to do was cook, but the man is a team player.
- Another very solid game for Chet Holmgren, with 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting, plus 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. There were several moments where Atlanta was making a run, and Chet steady things offensively.
- Sticking with the big three, I thought Jalen Williams had a really nice game offensively. Dub scored 20 points, and while his shooting percentages weren’t great (8-17), he passed well (he led the team with 7 assists) and got to the basket almost at will.
- Against his brother, Cason Wallace outscored Keaton, even when Keaton was hot from three (3-4). Cason got the start for Hartenstein and scored 17 points in 34 minutes, including a hot 5-for-6 from deep at the inferno level. And of course he had 7 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
- Alex Caruso found his stroke. Caruso scored 16, missing just 1 shot (none from deep), while also grabbing 8 rebounds and 2 steals.
- I mean, offensively the Thunder looked great. 140 points is a lot, my man.
- Hey, that’s two wins in a row now, and with the Spurs losing to the Cavaliers, OKC pushes its lead in the Western Conference back to 4.5 games.
One important takeaway
After the game, Mark Daigneault called out the defensive mistakes, and that’s probably the takeaway from this one. The short-handed Hawks had no business scoring 74 points in the first half and 129 total against the league’s best defense.
Like I said, a big part of Atlanta was a couple of shots that, to repeat myself, had nothing to do with it, but the devastating defense we’re used to just wasn’t there long enough to keep the Hawks away. In the second half they dialed in to start the third quarter, and it looked like we were going to get a repeat of the win against the 76ers, but the defensive intensity dropped and the Hawks got right back into it.
A win is a win, but there is still a lot the Thunder can do to show the world they are the best team in the NBA.
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