When ESPN selected the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder to appear on its network, it probably had something else in mind.
In a game that was slated to be full of stars, Chet Holmgren, Zion Williamson, Dejounte Murray and C.J. McCollum were all out. With the shortened list of notable names putting a damper on what was supposed to be an exciting game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams picked up the slack. OKC’s star duo combined for 60 points and led the Thunder to a 106-88 win.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams impacted the game in ways outside of scoring as well. Both players recorded two blocks and were active on the defensive end and also recorded a combined 13 assists.
Gilgeous-Alexander dominated in his usual ways. He got to the rim at will, sucked in defenders to create looks for his teammates and thrashed the Pelicans defense in the midrange. At this point, Gilgeous-Alexander’s heroics have come to become the expectation, but Williams’ ascent into a new stratosphere has come as somewhat of a surprise.
National pundits expected Williams to make a leap this season, but after a slow start, it would’ve been easy to assume his trajectory had slowed. Since breaking out of his cold streak, Williams has shown his versatility on the defensive end and become a lethal shooter from the outside. His current production as a three-level scorer is some of the best in the NBA and if he can hold this form when OKC is back to 100% in a few months, its odds of winning a championship increase exponentially.
This display by OKC’s stars was encouraging for fans everywhere. When Holmgren went down, many worried about OKC falling down the standings and struggling to compete with other elite teams on a night-to-night basis. New Orleans is by no means elite, but it does play three centers in its rotation. Wednesday, NOLA’s size didn’t do anything to deter OKC from operating how it wanted to.
The interior offense was centered around Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams and when they drove in, it would leave shooters open.
No massive takeaways should be made from OKC’s win over the Pelicans, but it is promising that the Thunder are able to shut down opposing offenses and get whatever looks it wants on offense without any centers in the rotation.
With Williams’ ascent to offensive superstardom and Gilgeous-Alexander’s ability to maintain the level he has been at over the past two seasons makes OKC’s offense one of the best in the NBA. When combining that with a historically dominant defense, it reveals what anyone who has watched OKC this season has already known — there is no ceiling on how good this Thunder team can be.
