As Brandon Miller’s last-second 3-pointer bounced off the rim, OKC breathed a sigh of relief. The final buzzer sounded and it tasted victory for the first time in a week. A flavor that’s been badly craved.
The short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder collected a much-needed 121-118 win over the Charlotte Hornets. The road win snapped a season-high three-game loss streak amid Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s and Jalen Williams’ absences. It also wrapped up a season-high five-game road trip.
“These games this week were really valuable for us,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said on the win. “I think there’s individual players that gained a lot of confidence from this. From the experience of more minutes and kinda bigger roles. When we insert Shai and Jalen back in, hopefully they can maintain that confidence.”
As the Thunder’s offense stagnated these last couple of contests without their top two scorers, they looked crisper out of the gates. OKC got off to a 10-2 start and ended the first quarter with a 31-29 lead.
After being tied at 33 apiece in the opening minutes of the second frame, the Thunder went on a 20-7 run to build a 13-point lead with over five minutes left in the first half. OKC scored 36 points in the second frame and entered halftime with a 65-55 advantage.
The Thunder grew their lead to 14 points in the opening minutes of the third frame and it felt like they were on their way to cruising for a stress-free win. Instead, a 13-4 run by the Hornets cut OKC’s lead to five points with a little under four minutes left in the quarter.
After the Thunder ballooned their lead back to 86-76 with three minutes left, Charlotte closed the quarter with nine straight points. Suddenly, OKC only had a slight 86-85 lead to enter the final frame.
Both teams exchanged baskets throughout the fourth quarter as neither squad created serious distance on the scoreboard. The Thunder finally created breathing room with a Lu Dort 3-pointer and Aaron Wiggins’ drive to the basket. Both scores gave OKC a 105-98 lead with less than seven minutes left.
The Hornets stung back with eight straight points to retake the lead at 106-105 with less than five minutes left in the contest. Charlotte continued its momentum as Grant Williams nailed a 3-pointer and scored in the post to grow its lead to 111-107 with 3:29 left in regulation.
Wiggins nailed a right-wing 3-pointer to put OKC back within one point with a little over three minutes left. After Williams converted a pair of free throws to put Charlotte up by three with 2:46 left, Wiggins converted the driving layup and Isaiah Joe nailed a timely deep 3-pointer for five quick points to give the Thunder the 115-113 edge with 1:28 left.
Vasilije Micic scooped in the open layup on the other end to tie it at 115 apiece with a little over one minute left. Joe cashed in on another deep 3-pointer to give OKC a 118-115 lead with 54 seconds left.
“He could miss 20 in a row… I think the entire team is going to be very confident that the (next) one is going in,” Wiggins said about Joe’s two late 3-pointers. “When he gets the ball in his hands and he gets even a decent look, if he’s forcing a bad one, I think a lot of guys trust his shot as well. We trust his judgment on some of those shots.”
Miles Bridges missed a pair of 3-pointers on the next possession. The misses essentially sealed the final result with 18 seconds left as Charlotte failed to reap the benefits of extending the game at the free-throw line.
The Thunder shot 52% from the field and went 18-of-36 (50%) from 3. They went 13-of-17 from the free-throw line. They dished out 33 assists on 45 baskets. Seven Thunder players scored double-digit points — including their entire starting lineup and three 20-plus point scorers.
Wiggins scored a season-high 26 points and six steals. Josh Giddey had a 20-point triple-double. Chet Holmgren had 20 points and 10 rebounds. OKC’s bench contributed with 33 points.
“For guys to step up off the bench that don’t usually play that many minutes was big for us and was much needed,” Giddey said. “Everybody that stepped on the floor tonight had a lot of impact. Against a team like that, that don’t have a lot to play for in this part of the season, that’s a dangerous team.”
Meanwhile, the Hornets shot 54% from the field and went 17-of-40 (42.5%) from 3. They went 11-of-14 from the free-throw line. They had 29 assists on 45 baskets. All eight Hornets players who suited up scored double-digit points.
Lots of familiar names were on Charlotte’s sideline. Four former Thunder players checked in for them as they tried to play spoiler against their old squad.
Micic had 17 points and 10 assists. Tre Mann had 18 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals. Aleksej Pokusevski finished with 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Davis Bertans scored 12 points on 4-of-9 outside shooting.
“It’s fun to play against guys like that,” Giddey said on facing his former teammates. “That you’ve played for a couple of years now. We got a really close team and those guys are as much of a part of it as anybody. It’s awesome to play against and see them doing so well.”
Williams finished with 19 points and five assists. Miller was limited to 13 points on 13 shots after he scored 32 points in their last game. Bridges totaled 15 points and nine rebounds.
It was an ugly and awkward contest at times, but the Thunder got what they ultimately needed and that was a road win to snap three straight losses. They now return home to finish the season with a four-game homestand. OKC hopes to regain Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams soon after they’ve both missed the last four outings.
“There was a lot of learning this week from our standpoint and from the players’ standpoint,” Daigneault said. “This was our eighth road game in our last 10 without two days off in between any of them. It was a grind and the guys did a great job at hanging in there.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Aaron Wiggins: A-plus
Wiggins lived up to his mythos by turning in his best game of the season when the Thunder needed it the most. He certainly saved OKC basketball tonight — and then some.
In 36 minutes, Wiggins finished with 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting, six steals and five assists. He shot 2-of-6 from 3.
The third-year wing scored mostly inside the paint, where he shot an efficient 9-of-14. The drives to the basket were eerily similar to his absent teammates of Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams. It featured tough shot-making ability by the usual off-ball wing.
As the game tightened, Wiggins stepped up with a 16-point second half. This included seven points in the fourth quarter. He scored on a pair of crucial baskets in the final three minutes and had a timely steal to make up for a costly turnover.
Over the years, Wiggins has slowly improved as a scorer and this environment allowed him to flex his muscles. The Thunder desperately needed a top scorer and the 25-year-old delivered.
“I thought he had a really good blend,” Daigneault said about Wiggins. “I thought a lot of stuff came attacking on the second side and making quick decisions on the catch — which he always does. I thought he was a beneficiary of how we were playing tonight.”
Josh Giddey: A-plus
Pushing the pace, Giddey examined his options before he dished it out to a trailing Joe. The third-year guard collected the assist on the sharpshooter’s 3-pointer, which gave OKC the go-ahead lead it wouldn’t relinquish in the final 88 seconds.
Giddey’s turned his season around in the last month and this was the latest chapter. In 37 minutes, he tallied a triple-double of 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 13 assists and 13 rebounds. He was a team-high plus-15.
The 21-year-old got off to a strong start with nine points in the opening frame. Fighting through contact, Giddey scored most of his points inside the paint.
“They got hot late, especially in the fourth quarter,” Giddey said. “They started making a lot of big shots… We did a good shot at responding and we had some big shots… It was an ugly win but we’ll take it.”
During this four-game stretch without Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams, Giddey has been OKC’s primary ball-handler. He’s taken advantage of the opportunity with productive outings despite the 1-3 record. The 21-year-old is playing his best basketball with a week left in the regular season.
Chet Holmgren: A-plus
Concerns of fatigue grew louder during this five-game road trip for Holmgren. It appeared the rookie had hit a wall with his gas tank nearly empty during the season-long stretch away from OKC.
Any energy concerns were quickly quieted with this much-needed monster performance by Holmgren. In 31 minutes, he finished with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals. He shot 3-of-6 from 3 and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line.
Facing a lowly Hornets frontcourt, Holmgren asserted his physicality and was active near the paint. He shot just 3-of-6 in that area but had a busy night at the free-throw line. This included a monster jam over the hefty Nick Richards contesting the shot.
The 21-year-old’s best quarter was the second with 11 points. He helped OKC enter the break with a double-digit point. In the fourth quarter, the seven-footer created the assist on Joe’s second clutch 3-pointer in the final seconds. Charlotte doubled the big man from the right wing and left the sharpshooter open at the top of the key.
It was a nice bounce-back performance by Holmgren, who’s battled through the grind of the regular season. He’s only four games away from hitting the 82-game mark in his rookie season. A massive accomplishment after missing all of last season.
“The way that he’s playing and the decisiveness he’s playing with, he’s just having fewer and fewer possessions where there’s a lot of fat and that’s ultimately how you refine your game,” Daigneault said about Holmgren. “He’s kinda doing that before our eyes a little bit.”
Isaiah Joe: A
With less than 90 seconds left in the contest, Joe knocked down a pair of massive outside shots for OKC. The first 3-pointer was from the right-wing spot. The second 3-pointer was at the top of the key.
The pair of outside shots highlighted a productive night for the bench scorer. In 21 minutes, Joe finished with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and three assists. He shot 2-of-4 from 3.
The 24-year-old avenged his two costly outside misses under similar circumstances in the Thunder’s close loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. He now returns to OKC to cap off a strong season.
“I’m happy for him because he had those looks in Philly earlier this trip,” Daigneault said about Joe. “In the last minute of the game, he got clean looks and missed them. No one takes more pride in delivering those plays than he does so for him to step in and make those two shots were huge.”
