When you’ve got a player like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the best course of action is often to simply let him cook.
Despite the his best efforts, Oklahoma City came up short against the Utah Jazz, losing 124-117 after a late offensive surge from Utah’s Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen.
The beginning of the first quarter felt a lot like the first quarter of Oklahoma City’s recent game against the Toronto Raptors. Gilgeous-Alexander was deferring, and Utah took an early 10-5 lead. Quickly, SGA nipped any thoughts of a 23-point comeback becoming necessary in the bud. He got to his spots regardless of where they were. It could be a stepback three, a tough and-one over the outstretched arms of two seven footers, or ,of course, a tough midrange jumper.
SGA could do no wrong in the first, and he capped off the dominant quarter by hitting a fadeaway midrange jumper despite a tough contest from Utah’s star rookie George. To boot, he was behind the backboard. The quarter put SGA’s offensive capability on full display, and following the shot, he brought his competitive fire to the sideline when he lovingly shoved Aaron Wiggins and sat down on the bench, never cracking a smile, never losing focus, and never looking at anything other than his teammates or the rim.
The Shai-less second quarter minutes saw the Jazz fight back and take the lead. Jalen Williams was playing in his first game in over a week after suffering a sprained ankle, and he picked up right where he left offensively. Williams scored 13 points in the first half and did so via his usual mix of midrange jumpers and tough finishes inside.
When SGA checked back in, OKC held a one point lead. He quickly went to work. Utah’s Collin Sexton did his best to match Gilgeous-Alexander, but he was no match. OKC’s superstar seemingly couldn’t miss, killing his defender inside or in the midrange and aggressively hunting his shot in a way we rarely see him do.
SGA’s offensive fireworks helped the Thunder balloon their lead to seven in the final minute of the half. He finished the half with 19 points on 8-12 shooting, and somehow the eye test made him feel even more dominant than that. As the buzzer sounded, OKC led 68-61, and had a massive gust of momentum pushing them into the half.
Even in the third quarter when his scoring slowed down, SGA dramatically impacted the game. Utah resorted to using Markkanen to play drop coverage on Gilgeous-Alexander. OKC countered by running pick-and-pop with Chet Holmgren, and the rookie big man made Utah pay for leaving him open.
Holmgren went 3/4 on threes in the third, and also slammed down two alley-oops.
The SGA-Holmgren duo helped expand the lead to double digits, but the Jazz refused to go away. George led Utah back into the game, and despite heroics from Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren, the Jazz ripped the lead back, taking a 96-92 advantage into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was back and forth the whole way. Williams kept OKC in it with a few massive threes, and SGA did a good job of getting in good positions to score. For whatever reason, the shots he was drilling in the first half just weren’t going in, and because of that, the Thunder fell behind.
Massive shots from George and Markkanen closed out OKC late, and despite a first half where their best player couldn’t miss, the Thunder came up short.
You can’t ask for more from the big three, as SGA, Chet, and J-Dub combined for 76 points. Zero bench players cracked double digits for OKC, and Josh Giddey brought little to the table in the second half just a couple of days after he had his best game of the season.
While the loss is unfortunate, it is the price of admission in the NBA. Sometimes players like George and Markkanen are going to catch fire, and in the end, that was the difference in the game.
