OKLAHOMA CITY — Being the center of attention, the Oklahoma City Thunder showed out for a national audience in their dominating, 123-87, in-season tournament win over the San Antonio Spurs.
It took a while to get going, but a slow start didn’t deter OKC from eventually blowing this game open in the third quarter with a 33-18 scoring advantage. After possessing a 10-point lead at halftime, the Thunder entered the final frame leading by 25 points.
The score was so lopsided, TNT pulled the plug and move on to the second game of its national doubleheader.
“I just thought we really amped up the pressure defensively,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said about their defense. “Kinda went to another level there. Really feisty; generated some turnovers.”
It was an offensive clinic for the Thunder in this 36-point win — a franchise-record margin against the Spurs. OKC shot 52% from the field and went 15-of-39 (38.5%) from 3. The Thunder controlled the paint as they outscored the Spurs, 60-38.
All five starters brought their A-game in this matchup. Each was at least a plus-20. It was a well-balanced attack for OKC as seven players scored at least eight points and only three contributed double-digit points.
On defense, OKC was stellar against San Antonio. The lowly Spurs — who’ve lost six consecutive games — were limited to 39% shooting and went a poor 9-of-30 (30%) from outside.
The Thunder forced the Spurs to commit 24 turnovers, which resulted in 23 points. A franchise-record 19 steals helped OKC score 31 fast-break points.
“I thought it was effort-based tonight,” Daigneault said about the defense. “Sometimes you just feel like you’re in the right place at the right time but I thought there was a conscious collective mentality that we had.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way on both ends for OKC with 28 points and a career-high seven steals.
“We just wanted to play our identity through the full 48 minutes,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on their performance. “That team gets comfortable, they can string together some moments and maybe steal a game and we didn’t want that to come to play.”
Rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama was held in check in his highly-anticipated matchup against Chet Holmgren. The 2023 No. 1 pick had eight points on 4-of-15 shooting and 14 rebounds.
The headline surrounding this game was that it’d be the first official matchup between the two recent top-two picks. It’s anticipated Holmgren and Wembanyama will fight it out for Rookie of the Year as well as be the next great rivalry of the league.
Despite the hype, Daigneault said this was just a regular win for them.
“I just think we have great respect for their people, their players, their program,” Daigneault said about the Spurs. “It’s one game. It’s one of 82. It was our night, it wasn’t their night. But it’s zero-zero next time we play them.”
For the Spurs, Zach Collins and Julian Champagnie were their leading scorers with 13 points each. Outside of that though, there was not a ton to write home about as San Antonio struggled to buy buckets against OKC.
“When we can put a full game together, we’re a tough team to beat,” Josh Giddey said. “We haven’t done that a whole lot I don’t think this season. We still managed to beat some good teams and stay in a lot of close games. I think tonight was a really good positive step in terms of playing 48 minutes.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus
The lights weren’t too bright for the All-NBA guard.
Playing on TNT and in an in-season tournament game, Gilgeous-Alexander made light work of the Spurs with 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting, five assists, six rebounds and a career-high seven steals. He also went 7-of-7 from the free-throw line.
“He’s a really, really intelligent and savvy help defender,” Daigneault said about Gilgeous-Alexander’s defense. “He’s got great length. He uses his wingspan to impact passing lanes. … He’s a pretty complete defender.”
It was another dominating third quarter for Gilgeous-Alexander as he helped make it lopsided with 13 points in the period. It was quickly evident the Spurs didn’t possess the personnel to contain him.
Playing against a rookie Wembanyama and Zach Collins, Gilgeous-Alexander was in full control inside of the paint with an 8-of-8 shooting night.
Oh my 🫣 pic.twitter.com/r1GvVaWyA7
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 15, 2023
SGA so far tonight: 6 steals. New career high pic.twitter.com/AvOC0WerLj
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 15, 2023
Josh Giddey: A-plus
Ten games into the season, Giddey has been arguably the most criticized player on the Thunder due to his slow start. After dishing 10 assists in the last game, the hope was he’d carry that momentum into the ensuing games.
That’s what happened for the 21-year-old. Giddey finished with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, seven assists and seven rebounds.
After averaging just one free-throw attempt entering the night, Giddey went 4-of-5 from the charity stripe as he started to finally receive some calls off his drives.
Giddey looked as good as he’s had thus far this season against the Spurs. He played comfortably out there in a familiar role as a playmaker as he dished and dimed to his teammates.
“I think early on, I was kinda hellbent on scoring the ball for some reason. I don’t know what that was,” Giddey said on getting comfortable again. “I spoke with coach around that. We just kinda found ways to address that. Me, as a player, I’m at my best when I’m making people better around me.”
Scoring inside and out pic.twitter.com/q3ihpFx8OQ
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 15, 2023
Chet Holmgren: B-minus
Not buying into the hype of this matchup, Holmgren played within the flow of the game and turned in a solid performance.
In 30 minutes, Holmgren had nine points on 3-of-10 shooting, seven rebounds and three assists. More noteworthy though, he was a game-high plus-30 and helped anchor a defense that limited the Spurs to 38 paint points.
Heart + hustle to end the half pic.twitter.com/ScMBV3pXAo
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 15, 2023
Ball movement finds Chet for the slam 💥 pic.twitter.com/hUOXvlvPZi
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 15, 2023
Jalen Williams: B-minus
Playing fourth fiddle, Williams finished with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting, two rebounds and three assists. He shot 1-of-3 from 3.
After scoring a season-high 31 points in their win against the Phoenix Suns, Williams wasn’t asked to carry the same offensive load in OKC’s win as all five starters were magnificent.
Looking for the open man 👌 pic.twitter.com/afwLoE9t8V
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 15, 2023
