OKLAHOMA CITY — As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the free-throw line for four attempts in the final seconds to seal the back-and-forth contest, the 25-year-old was showered with loud ‘MVP’ chants in his return from a four-game absence.
It was a dramatic way for OKC to return to near full strength after its best two players missed the last four contests. The Oklahoma City Thunder escaped with a 112-105 win over the Sacramento Kings to complete the 20-point comeback.
“We came out of halftime with a great sense of purpose and really defended in the second half of the game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said on the win. “Held them to 41 points. Obviously, there’s shot-making on that side of it too — it wasn’t all of our defense.
“I just thought our intensity was excellent, especially down the stretch. I thought that’s what won us the game and allowed us to come back like that.”
The Kings got off to a hot start with a 31-28 lead after the first quarter. It featured eight made 3-pointers by Sacramento in the opening 12 minutes. This carried over in the second frame as the Kings outscored the Thunder, 33-17.
The Thunder entered halftime in a 64-45 hole. It looked like Sacramento was on its way to spoiling the return of Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. Coming out of the break, OKC blitzed Sacramento with an 18-5 run. It suddenly turned into a two-point contest with a little over six minutes left in the third frame.
The Kings responded by rattling off nine straight points to balloon their lead back to 80-69 with a little over four minutes left in the third quarter. The Thunder totaled 39 points in the third frame to enter the fourth period with a manageable 87-84 deficit.
The Thunder eventually retook the lead with a corner 3-pointer by Cason Wallace in the early stages of the final frame at 89-87 with less than 11 minutes left. Both teams exchanged baskets the rest of the way as neither built serious distance on the scoreboard.
After a Williams floater gave the Thunder a one-point lead, Keon Ellis’ outside shooting continued to torch OKC with a huge 3-pointer to give Sacramento the 105-104 advantage with a little under three minutes left. After that basket, the Thunder closed out the contest on an 8-0 run in the final two-and-a-half minutes.
This included Chet Holmgren making a pair of free throws to retake the lead for OKC. Gilgeous-Alexander nailed a mid-range jumper and swished in four straight free throws to close out the tight win by scoring the final six points. In total, the Thunder outscored the Kings, 28-18, in the final frame to complete the comeback win.
“We have to understand the nature of an NBA game,” Daigneault said. “It’s a 48-minute game, it’s gonna be a lot of swings — especially with the way teams shoot the ball, us included. I think the average swing is a 27-point swing tonight between their largest lead and our largest lead… We just have to have the emotional maturity to understand that. Hang in there during lows and also stay locked in during the highs.”
The Thunder shot 49% from the field and went 11-of-30 (36.7%) from 3. They went an ugly 23-of-31 from the free-throw line. They dished out 21 assists on 39 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points and went 16-of-20 from free throws. Holmgren had 15 points and nine rebounds. Williams tallied 11 points and six rebounds. Lu Dort finished with 18 points.
“He’s a great player, they tend to be hard to hold down for 48 minutes so that’s some of it,” Daigneault said about Gilgeous-Alexander’s return. “It’s how we play collectively benefits everybody… We came out of halftime sharper of offense, sharper on defense.”
Meanwhile, the Kings had a Jekyll and Hyde pair of halves. After a hot start, the Kings cooled off and shot an ugly 34% from the field and went 20-of-58 (34.5%) from 3. They went 19-of-26 from the free-throw line. They had 23 assists on 33 baskets. Four Kings players scored double-digit points.
De’Aaron Fox went basket-for-basket with Gilgeous-Alexander as he finished with 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Ellis made up for the absences of Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk with a season-high 26 points that included an 8-of-15 night from 3.
Keegan Murray had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Domantas Sabonis was limited to eight points, 13 rebounds and five assists. It was the All-Star’s quietest performance against his former squad this season.
“The experience and preparation,” Holmgren said on guarding Sabonis. “Not every game is gonna be perfect but I try to put myself in the best position every game. Watching film, keying in on the game plan and kinda take the experience I had from past matchups and rolling them over.”
It was a tale of two halves for the Thunder in this thrilling win. Trailing by 20 points, Gilgeous-Alexander made his presence immediately known in his return with an efficient 40 points and closing out the close win.
The resume-building victory for OKC keeps it on pace for the first seed with less than a week left in the season. Sacramento has given the Thunder struggles recently, but that’s slowly changed over these last two matchups. The Kings are a possible playoff matchup as they’ll likely participate in the play-in tournament.
“You got to be a tough-minded team that can play through your dips,” Daigneault said on OKC’s recent stretch. “Stay together through your dips and continue to forge an identity through your dips and that’s what we try to do.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. The Thunder can attest to that. After missing the last four games, Gilgeous-Alexander returned and turned in a vintage MVP performance.
The 25-year-old scored his first basket the same way he hit his last one with his game-winner at MSG — a baseline fadeaway jumper that swished in. These were the first points of a monster performance for Gilgeous-Alexander.
In 38 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 40 points on 11-of-21 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists. He shot 16-of-20 from the free-throw line.
It was evident early that Gilgeous-Alexander was no longer nagged by his quad contusion. He scored 11 points in the first quarter. He had a typical strong third quarter with 17 points and scored nine more points in the final frame to serve as closer.
The MVP candidate got to his mid-range spots with ease. The drive-heavy guard attacked the basket and attempted a career-high 20 free-throw attempts. The Kings had no answer to contain Gilgeous-Alexander.
It was a nice return to normalcy for Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s struggled over the last few weeks. He returned to his early season form with a superb efficient scoring night and exploded in the second half to lead OKC to the comeback win.
“All the flying and change of altitudes wouldn’t have been good for it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on returning to OKC early for his quad. “I was able to really get treatment, work out, kinda get recovery with our facility and get all the perks of that. Three or four days, it was really good for me. You guys can tell my leg’s a little bit better than before.”
Gilgeous-Alexander also further confirmed he’s back to full strength after a week off: “In the past couple of games, I tried to play through the injury, but it wasn’t healing fast enough… I haven’t felt 100% since the Utah game until tonight.”
The Thunder will need Gilgeous-Alexander to put up these type of numbers once the playoffs start if they hope to advance deep into the postseason.
Jalen Williams: B-minus
Just like Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams returned from a four-game absence dealing with an ankle sprain. He finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes.
Even though it was a quiet return, the 22-year-old scored a pivotal running floater to give the Thunder a two-point lead with three minutes left in the contest. The crowd almost blew the roof off the place as Williams just missed a monumental alley-oop dunk in the second half as they chipped away Sacramento’s lead.
The quiet night could be explained away as Williams removing any rust he’s had from missing the last week. Luckily, the low-scoring contest didn’t need a loud game by the wing. The Thunder will need him to return to his form before his injury if they hope to make a deep playoff run.
Lu Dort: B
With OKC’s offense struggling, Dort stepped up and finished as the Thunder’s second-leading scorer in this low-scoring affair.
In 30 minutes, Dort finished with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting, two rebounds, two assists and two steals. He shot 3-of-6 from 3. He shot 3-of-4 from the free-throw line.
As the Thunder mounted their comeback, Dort played an important role with a 10-point third frame. He also helped limit the Kings to 25% shooting in the second half. This included the duo of Fox and Ellis held to 18 points in the second half after 41 points in the first half.
“We had a bad start, we just had to stick to our game and do what we do to come back in the game,” Dort said. “It was good Shai hit a big 3 and Chet hit a 3 after that in the corner. It was just good momentum for us to get going in the second half.”
Chet Holmgren: B
After Sabonis dominated the first three matchups, Holmgren faded the All-Star into the background as he had his worst game of the season against OKC.
In 34 minutes, Holmgren had 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. He shot 2-of-5 from 3 and went 3-of-6 from the free-throw line.
The 21-year-old helped OKC in its game-changing third frame with eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes. He nailed a pair of free throws in the final two minutes to give the Thunder the go-ahead lead.
It wasn’t the flashiest performance, but Holmgren did enough to give the Thunder a chance to collect the comeback win over a pesky Kings squad that has given them trouble in the past.
“I thought tonight was a great example of his growth,” Daigneault said about Holmgren. “Just looking at the trajectory of how he’s guarded Sabonis over the course of the season. That was a matchup in the first time we played him in November — or even earlier, I don’t know when that was — but that was a tough matchup for him. And tonight, he did a helluva job on Sabonis.”
