SPECIAL BY Calif Poncy
Fueled by a 45-point third quarter, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 134-115.
The dominant showing gives OKC its second win over a top-four seed in the Western Conference in the last three games and ends the Clippers’ impressive win streak at nine.
OKC was in control from start to finish, and a few promising takeaways came from the impressive showing.
SGA and Chet Holmgren continue to shine:
Heading into this season, no one knew what to expect from Chet Holmgren. The rookie big man quickly put any concerns to bed and has since joined Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in creating one of the NBA’s most intriguing young duos.
Gilgeous-Alexander dominated LAC, scoring 31 points, along with ripping down eight rebounds and dishing out four assists.
Holmgren was also impressive, scoring 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting, including a sensational one-man alley-oop that is surely making its way around Thunder Twitter as we speak.
OKC’s future is shining bright regardless of game-by-game performance, but the effectiveness of SGA and Holmgren as a tandem this early in their tenure together continues to be promising.
OKC continues to light it up from 3
After residing in the bottom half of the NBA in 3-point percentage as a team last season, the Thunder have completely flipped the script this season.
Against the Clippers, OKC shot 47% from beyond the arc, solidifying its ranking as the third-best three-point shooting team in the NBA.
A few players shot well above their season average against LAC, and 47% isn’t a sustainable number, but OKC’s outside shooting has sustained over a long enough period that it can be considered a real weapon moving forward.
OKC are now 18-8 on the season and second in the West. They’ll play the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.
