The basketball circled around the hoop before ultimately rimming out.
With a chance to hit an overtime game-winner, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander launched a quality elbow mid-range jumper that didn’t fall in a 120-119 overtime loss to the Utah Jazz.
It was a decent look considering the circumstances, but that didn’t make this one-point loss any easier to stomach.
“The locker room was disappointed, which is a good thing,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “It means we’re invested in the game. The best part about that one is I thought a lot about what we can control in the fourth quarter and overtime let us down. It wasn’t one we can write off on luck and those are the best losses. … We gotta look in the mirror on that one because there were a lot of things we could’ve done better.”
While Gilgeous-Alexander had a chance to decide the outcome of this back-and-forth contest, the previous two possessions arguably had bigger influences on the result.
Let’s take a look at them.
After forcing himself to the free-throw line, Gilgeous-Alexander, a 91.2% shooter, went an uncharacteristic 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to give the Thunder just a two-point lead with 12.1 seconds left in overtime.
On the next possession, Lauri Markkanen, who went toe to toe against his fellow All-Star with 43 points and 10 rebounds, drew a three shot foul on Lu Dort off a curl. The Thunder challenged the call but were not able to get it reversed. Markkanen made all three free-throw attempts to give the Jazz the game-winning points.
While fans will harp on that foul call as the reason the Thunder lost, a poor final 17 minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime merit greater responsibility for the disappointing loss.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Thunder held an 86-78 lead. With 7:17 left, the Thunder maintained the eight-point advantage.
From that point, the Jazz outscored the Thunder, 35-26, in the final 12 minutes, which included 14 points in overtime.
The Thunder struggled to score efficiently. They went 45-of-112 (40.2%) from the field and a poor 8-of-37 (21.6%) from 3. The saving grace for the offense was OKC’s ability to get to the free-throw line, where it went 21-of-27 (77.8%).
Meanwhile, the Jazz also struggled on offense as they shot 42-of-100 (42%) from the field and 13-of-48 (27.1%) from 3. Similar to their opponent, the Jazz went 23-of-27 (85.2%) from the free-throw line.
Despite playing against one of the best young rim-protecting bigs, Walker Kessler — who finished with seven points, 18 rebounds and seven blocks — the Thunder stuck to their brand of basketball. They went 30-of-64 (46.9%) inside of the paint.
While the efficiency wasn’t there, the volume was, and it led to a big free-throw shooting night for the Thunder.
Speaking of Kessler, he was fantastic for the Jazz. Outside of his impressive stat-line (which included him shooting and making his first three-pointer in the opening possession), he played a pivotal role for the Jazz in this home win at the end of regulation.
Trailing by two points with 16.1 seconds left, Kessler grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds during a hectic three-second period that saw him tie the game with a second-chance (third-chance?) layup.
On the other end with 4.1 seconds left, Kessler blocked an Isaiah Joe reverse layup drive to send the game into overtime.
The Jazz only out-rebounded the Thunder by four, but it felt like a lot more in the closing minutes of the game as they kept getting scoring opportunities.
In fourth quarter and overtime, the Jazz collected seven offensive rebounds compared to the Thunder’s two.
“I thought we kinda held them in check on the glass until late in the game,” Daigneault said. “I thought it was a factor — especially late.”
This loss stings, as Daigneault mentioned the quietness that filled OKC’s locker room, and it’s hard to blame them for feeling that way.
Entering Thursday, the Jazz trailed by the Thunder by just half a game in the standings. The team switched spots in the standings: the Jazz are 10th while the Thunder are 11th in the Western Conference.
The Thunder will have plenty of chances to amend this loss. They play the Jazz three more times in their final 24 games of the regular season — and considering how jam-packed the standings are, the Thunder are going to need every one of those games.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A
The only reason Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets an A instead of an A-plus is a quiet fourth quarter and overtime from the one-time All-Star.
With the Thunder playing a tight game where neither team trailed by more than 10 points, Gilgeous-Alexander scored just eight points on 3-of-8 shooting in 12 minutes during the final 17 minutes of this game.
This include missing on a chance to hit the game-winner at the end of overtime and missing a critical free throw that kept the Thunder’s lead to just two points before Lauri Markannen sank three free throws.
Overall though, Gilgeous-Alexander was fantastic. He finished with 39 points on 12-of-26 shooting and went a 15-of-19 from the free-throw line. Gilgeous-Alexander also added eight rebounds and seven assists.
As he’s done all season, Gilgeous-Alexander kept hammering the paint, going 11-of-20. This aggressiveness also helped Gilgeous-Alexander reach 19 free throws — which tied a career high.
History was also made as Gilgeous-Alexander passed Steven Adams for fourth all-time scoring leader in Thunder history. It’s only a matter of time before he passes Serge Ibaka for the No. 3 spot, too. Gilgeous-Alexander only needs 849 points to surpass him.
Something tells me it’ll be a long time before someone replaces either Russell Westbrook (18,859 points) or Kevin Durant (15,942 points) though.
Shai picks his pocket for a BIG bucket late in OT!@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/cABPqYiFCu
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) February 24, 2023
Shai cannot be contained 🔥@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/4qotDHHnRH
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) February 24, 2023
SHAI WITH A MASSIVE BLOCK ON AGBAJI 🔥@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/W7mSxuzMr2
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) February 24, 2023
That was absolute FILTH, Shai 🤯@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/Dn0Gr6LPwN
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) February 24, 2023
Kenrich Williams: A-minus
At a certain point in this game, it looked as if Kenrich Williams was going to single-handedly close this road win for OKC.
In the span of 53 seconds, Williams went on a personal 5-0 run to give the Thunder a 100-95 lead over the Jazz with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter.
As you know by now, that mini-run ultimately will get lost in the story of this game, but Williams definitely deserves credit for both that moment and his overall game.
In 28 minutes off the bench, Williams finished with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, four rebound and three assists.
“There at the end, we kinda got sloppy a bit,” Williams said.
After the game, Williams was very complimentary of first-time All-Star Markannen, who finished with 43 points on 15-of-28 shooting and 10 rebounds.
“I played him previously on different teams and he looks like a completely different player this year,” Williams said. “… He’s an All-Star for a reason.”
Hustling all the way! 👏 pic.twitter.com/aR5ty0x98k
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 24, 2023
Lu Dort: C
This was a tough game to grade Lu Dort on because he was involved in two of the biggest moments for the Thunder — both for a good reason and a bad reason.
The bad reason is obvious. His foul on Markannen put him at the line where he converted the game-winning free throws to give the Jazz the win.
Despite the bad foul though, Daigneault backed Dort up as his go-to defender in those situations.
“There’s no situation we like more than Lu on an island against their best player late in the game,” Daigneault said. “… It’s a tough one because Markannen’s got size on him.”
The good reason is one most will forget due to the result, but it was a huge moment.
After Gilgeous-Alexander missed a chance to take a lead with 1:10 left in regulation, Dort muscled his way into grabbing the offensive rebound and drew a shooting foul, where he made both attempts and gave OKC the two-point lead with 1:08 left in the game.
The play exemplified Dort’s non-stop motor and the 75.6% free-throw shooter knocked in two of the biggest attempts of the night when needed.
Overall, Dort finished with 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting that included going 0-of-5 from 3, 11 rebounds and four assists.
“His toughness was felt tonight,” Daigneault said.
Lu gets things going! pic.twitter.com/i9Htm9HtwO
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 24, 2023
Josh Giddey: C-minus
Josh Giddey struggled to create quality looks inside of the paint as he resorted to throwing up weirdly-angled floaters.
This explains Giddey’s poor shooting night. He finished with 18 points on 8-of-23 shooting, 0-of-5 shooting from 3 and 11 rebounds.
Inside of the paint, Giddey shot an inefficient 7-of-17 and forced several bad looks in a crowded area.
This was a poor game for Giddey, whose six overtime points were his biggest contribution.
Creating opportunities all around 🔍 pic.twitter.com/wXVJ6HgxKA
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 24, 2023
Playing with pace ⏩
Giddey finds KRich under the basket! pic.twitter.com/ffnFalQWPV
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 24, 2023
Giddey on a fast break down the floor 🚦 pic.twitter.com/wakuirjlDU
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 24, 2023
Jaylin Williams: A
To end on a positive note, let’s talk about how great Jaylin Williams looked in his third consecutive start.
Williams finished with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting that included going 3-of-4 from outside and six rebounds. On the season, Williams is shooting 21-of-44 (47.7%) from 3.
If you paid close enough attention to the Thunder broadcast, you could’ve heard three audible booms from Williams’ deep voice.
Williams also drew a pair of charges, increasing his total to 20 on the season — which ranks third in the entire league. That is an impressive feat for a rookie who barely played during the first half of the season (funny enough Williams’ teammate Kenrich Williams is first in the league in charges drawn at 25).
The block and another charge for @Jay_MWilliams_ ‼️@OGandE Power Play of the Game pic.twitter.com/IM9UxgQYHq
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 24, 2023
Embracing the contact!
J Will draws his 19th charge of the season 💪 pic.twitter.com/v4bGcLzcgF
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 24, 2023
