For Oklahoma City Thunder optimists, there couldn’t have been a better start to the season. For Thunder critics, it may be time to start deleting those tweets after OKC wrangled the Chicago Bulls 124-104 in Chicago.
With OKC’s illuminant future playing out right before our eyes, anything short of an outright playoff birth would be disappointing.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished fourth in scoring last season, appeared in his first NBA All-Star game, received All-NBA First Team honors, and had many NBA experts lauding him as a bonafide top 10 player in the league.
Against the Bulls, SGA led a 12-0 run in the latter stages of the third quarter, which burst the doors wide open for OKC en route to a convincing win against a relatively competitive team.
Josh Giddey tallied 16 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds on 50 percent shooting, while Rookie of the Year runner-up Jalen Williams also rattled in 16 points.
The biggest takeaway from OKC’s season opener was their tenacity and commitment to Mark Daigneault’s plan.
If there’s one trait that the Thunder exude under Daigneault’s reign, it’s tenacity; they never give up. Never. Through one game, we saw that, plus a piece that we haven’t seen an abundance of the talent to back that tenacity up.
As everyone watched, if an opposing defense pays too much attention to SGA, there are now two or three competent scorers he can kick it to. Evidenced in the second half, there were a handful of times where SGA would drive to the basket, allowing Chicago’s defense to collapse, then, on cue, kick it out to either Cason Wallace or Isaiah Joe for a 3.
That was the exact moment when you saw OKC’s lead grow. That’s what generated their 12-0 run. Wallace in his first NBA game, scored 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting and 3-of-3 from 3. Joe continued his stellar shooting from last season with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
For those who assumed SGA would take a step back from his rapid rise to superstardom, you may want to begin backpedaling because SGA, with talent around him, is scarier.
He’s going to get his. He scored 30 points with ease on 18 shots. Now he gets to flex his muscles as a true point guard when defenses decide they’ve had enough of him scoring. Luckily, it seems his teammates can knock down shots at a respectable clip as well.
