Bumping off Herb Jones, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander launched a baseline fadeaway one-legged jumper.
The ball gently landed through the basket in what is arguably Gilgeous-Alexander’s biggest made shot of his young career.
After enjoying the best season of his career and establishing himself as a superstar, Gilgeous-Alexander added the first of many superstar moments in the postseason with the go-head bucket.
“We’ve been battle tested. We’ve played in a lot of close games all year, for the past couple of years,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the win. “Even when the season wasn’t going our way, we played in a lot of close games and we have good habits and we know what gets it done down the stretch.”
The shot gave the Oklahoma City Thunder the one-point lead with 28 seconds to go. By the end of the night, it served as the dagger in their 123-118 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
“All season, I’ve been impressed with the team’s confidence,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “Even coming into the season, before we even played together, there’s a swagger and confidence inside the group. … They feed off of each other, they encourage each other, there’s no judgment inside the team. They build each other up.”
The Thunder advance in the play-in tournament. They play the Minnesota Timberwolves for the eighth seed on Friday. The winner will earn a playoff berth and face the top-seeded Denver Nuggets in a first-round series.
With the Thunder trailing, 63-57, at halftime, offensive fireworks followed in the third quarter. The Thunder outscored the Pelicans, 39-24, to create a nine-point lead entering the final frame. Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 17 points to spearhead OKC’s season-saving third quarter.
The Pelicans retook the lead at multiple junctures in the fourth quarter; their last advantage occurring at the 1:21 mark. A Brandon Ingram jumper gave the Pelicans the two-point lead, but OKC finished on an 11-4 run in the final 59 seconds to come away with the upset win.
Although, the final minute was still extremely stressful to watch than what the 11-4 run would suggest.
With 18.1 seconds remaining, Ingram had a shot to take the lead facing a one-point deficit. After getting the ball in the post, Ingram managed to shoot a turnaround fadeaway jumper that was contested by Dort that clanked off the rim.
Both Ingram and Dort matched up again on a critical possession 14 game seconds later, where the former made a prayer long 3 that he thought should’ve been a potential 4-point play on a foul by the latter that could’ve tied the game late.
Instead, the referees let the final seconds play out without their interference on a judgment call. It’ll be an interesting L2M report for sure.
The trio of Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Lu Dort were absolutely phenomenal in OKC’s first do-or-die game since 2020. The trio scored 90 points on 30-of-58 (51.7%) shooting.
“With teams throwing double teams at Shai, other guys are going to have to step up and make plays,” Giddey said. “I was trying to do that tonight. I thought Lu did a great job, Dub did a great job. We had a lot of guys contribute in a big way tonight.”
Meanwhile, the Pelicans were led by Ingram, who finished with 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting, seven assists and six rebounds. Herb Jones also had 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting, five assists and five rebounds. Trey Murphy III added 21 points on 6-of-16 shooting.
C.J. McCollum had 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting. After a dominant first half, Jonas Valanciunas was quiet in the second as he finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 18 rebounds.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus
It’s only appropriate for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets an A-plus after receiving almost exclusively A’s for all his games this season, right?
After a slow first half, Gilgeous-Alexander quickly turned it around with a strong second half to send the Pelicans home.
Gilgeous-Alexander was held to a season-low seven points in the first half on 2-of-8 shooting. In the second half, the script flipped with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including hitting the go-ahead basket against defensive stopper Herb Jones.
Gilgeous-Alexander delivered the quarter of his season: He scored 17 points in the third quarter and orchestrated OKC’s 39-point 12-minute stretch.
Overall, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 32 points on 11-of-22 shooting, 2-of-5 from 3, five rebounds and three assists in 41 minutes.
It was quite the journey to get there, but Gilgeous-Alexander ended his night with a superstar performance in an elimination game.
Making plays down the stretch pic.twitter.com/xYCHmiJQcp
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Breaking down the defense pic.twitter.com/IQT3ugJ0Jc
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Josh Giddey: A-plus
Heading into this game, the popular theory was the Pelicans would focus their attention on Gilgeous-Alexander and dare players such as Josh Giddey to beat them.
That is precisely what they did.
And, they lost that dare.
In the most important game of his young career, Giddey showed the heck out with a career-high 31 points on 11-of-22 shooting, 3-of-7 from 3, 10 assists and nine rebounds in 42 minutes.
This included a strong second half of 19 points and seven assists. Giddey accompanied Gilgeous-Alexander in OKC’s season-saving third quarter with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting and five assists.
While the flirtation with a triple-double is eye-catching, how about the fact Giddey committed two turnovers in 42 minutes?
Butting heads with Josh Richardson after being knocked down, it was clear Giddey’s ultra-competitive nature was on full display as he needed to be stopped from confronting him over the flagrant one.
“It felt like a playoff game,” Giddey said. “It felt like what I thought it would feel like. It’s what I expected. … The crowd, the environment. It was a hostile place to play. They are the type of games, when you grow up, you want to be involved in.”
Taking advantage of opportunities pic.twitter.com/U9awLRPqIA
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Working the ball inside to find the open man! pic.twitter.com/8ZPpD2lmbX
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Lu Dort: A-plus
I mean, where to start with Lu Dort? Phew.
Let’s start before the game:
During the two days leading to this game, many feared what Dort would do. The hyper-aggressive defensive wing has a history of taking hostage the flow of OKC’s offense.
The trigger-happy wing has the tendency to let it fly every chance he gets. As a result, fans and pundits worried he’d shoot them out of the game.
Instead, the exact opposite happened. He shot OKC into this win — mirroring his 30-point performance in his last postseason appearance in Game 7 against the Houston Rockets.
Dort finished with a season-high 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting, 4-of-8 from 3 along with an excellent 7-of-8 night from the free-throw line.
With Gilgeous-Alexander struggling, Dort carried the offensive load with 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including going 3-of-4 from 3, in the first quarter. He finished the first half with 20 points.
In the second half, Dort hit a pair of high-stress free throws to give the Thunder the four-point lead with six seconds left to ice the win.
“It’s not his first time doing it on this stage either,” Daigneault said about Dort. “He’s just a visceral competitor. Amps up in these games. He loves these environments. He’s not afraid. He helps our team stick its chest out.”
Dort is the most polarizing player on the roster, as it feels like we have discussions of his long-term future with the team every other week. But, after a game like this, you have to give him his flowers for this special performance.
Games like these make it extremely easy to understand OKC’s infatuation with Dort, even though fans might bemoan every time he touches the ball.
Rotating to the hot hand 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xYwxjC1ucj
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Power up, Lu! pic.twitter.com/zmEDy3aWXR
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Jalen Williams: C
Not trying to be a vibe killer, but the rest of the Thunder didn’t really do much in this win, though they didn’t have to! When your young trio is leading you to a win, it’s natural to take a backseat.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Giddey and Dort combined to score 90 of OKC’s 123 points.
Jalen Williams had a quiet postseason debut. He finished with 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting and went 0-of-5 from 3 to go along with four rebounds in 40 minutes.
Playing against the Timberwolves, it’ll be unfair to ask for a repeat performance from OKC’s three-headed monster, which means Williams will need to be better if the Thunder want to advance.
Making the right read pic.twitter.com/Xt5DhWJGkN
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Passed up a good shot for a great one pic.twitter.com/h0ZFnL42Qz
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Capitalizing off second chance opportunities pic.twitter.com/0RkQlZ0627
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
Active hands leads to a score in transition pic.twitter.com/KyrVSvmo9h
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 13, 2023
