OKLAHOMA CITY — Missing a ferocious dunk, Lu Dort sent the crowd into a different frenzy with a second-chance 3-pointer to hit the exclamation mark in OKC’s double-digit win.
On New Year’s Eve, the Oklahoma City Thunder collected a 124-108 win over the Brooklyn Nets. The win extends OKC’s winning streak to four games.
“I thought there were a couple of moments where we — I wouldn’t call it sticky — but I just thought we didn’t make the early play in transition,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought we had a lot of opportunities tonight to do that. But when we did, we got really, really good stuff.
“The game was fun when we did that. We did it enough obviously to have a really good offensive night but definitely had to course-correct a couple of things during the course of the game.”
After quickly trailing the Nets 8-0 in the opening minutes, the Thunder ended the first quarter by closing the gap and only trailing by three points. A 26-point second quarter helped OKC enter halftime with a 59-56 lead.
Coming out of the break, the Thunder continued to throw their best punch in the third quarter with a 30-point period that saw OKC enter the final frame with a double-digit lead.
The fourth quarter was much of the same story as OKC grew its lead to as high as 21 points before Brooklyn eventually waved the white flag in the later portions of the final frame.
It was another excellent offensive outing for the Thunder. They shot 54% from the field and went 18-of-33 (54.5%) from 3. They also dished out 31 assists on their 45 buckets.
“A lot of it is just creating advantages,” Daigneault said on their ball movement. “It’s hard to move the ball if you can’t move an advantage… Our guys have done a great job at working together to get those.”
All five Thunder starters scored 17-plus points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points and Josh Giddey had 20 points. Chet Holmgren collected an 18-point double-double.
Meanwhile, the Nets — who’ve lost eight of their last 10 games — shot a lowly 38% from the field and went an even worse 12-of-46 (26.1%) from 3. The jump-shooting-happy team shot 46 of their 100 attempts from outside.
“We were a little flat early and then amped it up pretty good,” Daigneault said on their defense. “A lot of switching. We downsized and were able to switch them and it stopped their drive and kick.”
Despite a significant advantage in volume, Brooklyn only went 20-of-31 (64.5%) from the free-throw line. OKC was 16-of-20 (80%) from the charity stripe.
The duo of Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas led the Nets as their sole 20-point scores. Bridges had 22 points on 8-of-20 shooting and Thomas had 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting.
The duo got off to a hot start, combining for 25 points in the first quarter. After that though, OKC did an excellent job at limiting both scorers the rest of the way with 17 total points.
As mentioned, this win also marks OKC’s 16th consecutive New Year’s Eve home game. The Thunder continues to add chapters to its Dec. 31 contests.
It was a mundane win outside of an early scare, but the Thunder continue to take care of business against the bottom of the barrel in the league. Wins continue to pile up for OKC as it enters the 2024 calendar year with a 22-9 record.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: B-plus
With everybody enjoying a successful offensive night, the Thunder didn’t need Gilgeous-Alexander to put on his cape and have a monster game against the struggling Nets.
In 35 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points on 7-of-15 shooting, six assists and four rebounds. He shot a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Overcoming a slow start, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 13 points in the first quarter to help OKC cut into the largest deficit it faced in the entire game of 10 points.
“We’ve gotten a lot better,” Gilgeous-Alexander said reflecting on 2023. “We’ve put in a lot of work. I expect us to get better. I’m not surprised. We’ve got to keep going and keep getting better.”
SGA SPIN-CYCLE MOVE MAKES IT A 6-POINT GAME!#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/deAvJnQbYy
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 1, 2024
SGA STEP BACK 3️⃣!#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/XxW6WeU7O7
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 1, 2024
Josh Giddey: B
Daring him to shoot, Giddey made the Nets pay with crucial 3-pointers down the stretch. He went 2-of-3 from 3 in the final period to help OKC blow it open.
In 27 minutes, Giddey had 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting, six rebounds and five assists. He shot 4-of-8 from 3 to foil Brooklyn’s plans of sagging off on him.
Overall, it was a mixed bag for Giddey tonight. A slow first half saw him commit some questionable turnovers and decisions with the ball. To his credit, he turned it around with a great shooting night from outside in the second half.
“First off, Josh is a professional,” Isaiah Joe said on Giddey. “He took it upon himself to really put in work to be able to knock down shots whenever they start to do that. I think he’s done a really good job so far. Whenever they’ve sagged off, he’s made them pay the majority of the time, so we’ll keep finding him.
“If they’re gonna sag off, we would love Josh to take all the open 3s.”
Ball movement leads to the 👌
📺 @BallySportsOK pic.twitter.com/Ju9fKDHzFt
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 1, 2024
Chet Holmgren: B
Aiding in OKC’s hot 3-point shooting, Holmgren hit on a buzzer-beating outside jumper to push its lead to 10 points entering the final frame.
Overall, Holmgren had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. He shot 3-of-5 from 3.
The looks were limited for the 21-year-old as OKC’s offense found a flow following a slow start. All five starters finished with 10-plus shot attempts in the win.
“I think we picked up our energy,” Holmgren said. “Early in the game, they were making shots from the outside. Some of that was them coming out ready to play and some of that was us just being a little late on rotations and close-outs.
“Once we picked that up, we really made shots tough on them and we started to get some stops.”
7️⃣ gets through the paint before the shot clock pic.twitter.com/71ME2NRp1s
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 1, 2024
Dub throws it ⬆️ Chet throws it ⬇️
Vote Thunder: https://t.co/2FFNkzxxzm pic.twitter.com/eq6I24QTFe
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 1, 2024
Chet with a little ball fake, hits the 3️⃣!#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/hXtoaLXgSW
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 1, 2024
Giddey to Chet to end the 3rd 👌 pic.twitter.com/94IJaRLM7S
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 1, 2024
Chet at the top of the key, drills the 3️⃣!#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/BlqNu2TAoe
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 1, 2024
Rim pr🚫tect🚫r@OGandE Power Play of the Game pic.twitter.com/chaxvh4DLB
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 1, 2024
Lu Dort: B-plus
Playing great ball on both ends, Dort enjoyed a great performance to cap off his calendar year.
In 30 minutes, Dort has 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, four rebounds and three assists. He shot 4-of-5 from 3 to add to the 3-point-heavy night for OKC.
On defense, Dort helped blanket Spencer Dinwiddie, who had 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Overall, the Nets struggled to find a groove as they shot just 38% from the field.
Dort BURIES the open 3️⃣!#NBAAllStar | https://t.co/DeWtOHgldP pic.twitter.com/5jLPMV8rUH
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 1, 2024
Look at that pass 🔎 pic.twitter.com/BwmnAkN8Ze
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 1, 2024
