Gilgeous-Alexander explodes, Thunder survives in LA

Sometimes, it’s nice to have one of those guys.

Fortunately for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is undoubtedly one of them.

Gilgeous-Alexander put his talents for the nation to see Friday night, scoring 35 points and dishing out nine assists against the Los Angeles Lakers on ESPN. LA kept it close down the stretch, but a three from Gilgeous-Alexander in the final minute was the dagger that OKC was searching for and eventually, it escaped with a 101-93 win.

The Thunder improve to 15-4. They're 2-1 in Group Play + still alive for the Knockout Round. Still first in the West.

OKC 101 | LAL 93

– SGA: 36 PTS, 7 REB, 9 AST, 2 STL
– Jalen Williams: 19 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST
– Lu Dort: 14 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST
– Isaiah Hartenstein: 11 PTS, 17 REB

— Addam M. Francisco, MLS 🇭🇹 (@SuaveCEO_) November 30, 2024

The Lakers tried all sorts of different defenders on Gilgeous-Alexander, but whenever he wanted a bucket, he seemed to get by them and score at will. At times throughout the game, Gilgeous-Alexander was matched up with Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Lebron James and a few other Lakers, but he got his buckets at will regardless.

While Gilgeous-Alexander’s superstar showing isn’t a surprise, it is never a bad thing to put the world on notice on national television and that rings particularly true when facing the Lakers.

Gilgeous-Alexander was the engine for an OKC offense that otherwise struggled, but a few of his teammates did support him in downing LA.

Lu Dort dropped in 14 on 4-5 shooting from deep, Jalen Williams scored 19 in the crafty, funky-looking way that he normally does and Isaiah Hartenstein recorded his fourth consecutive double-double by scoring eleven points and ripping down an impressive 17 rebounds.

Isaiah Hartenstein this season:

13 PTS – 14 REB – 3 AST – 4 BLK
19 PTS – 10 REB – 4 AST – 60% FG
14 PTS – 14 REB – 3 AST – 2 BLK
11 PTS – 17 REB – 4 AST – 57% FG

Fitting in perfectly with OKC. 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/uQTnyQBNT5

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) November 30, 2024

Dort’s performance was the most promising of OKC’s role players. For OKC’s last three games, Dort had been abysmal offensively. Whether it was shooting from the outside or trying to finish around the rim, Dort seemed to be in an all-around offensive slump that the Thunder hadn’t seen from him for a while. With Friday’s correction, Dort gets back to providing the mix of outstanding defense and knockdown shooting that has made him indispensable for this iteration of the Thunder.

Regardless of Dort’s struggles, OKC was able to escape the three games before Friday’s matchup with wins and the win over the Lakers advances the Thunder to 3-0 on its West Coast road trip.

While escaping a trip across the U.S. against good teams undefeated is impressive, it doesn’t get any easier for OKC with the surging Houston Rockets next up.

Whether or not OKC can advance its winning streak to five remains to be seen, but if Gilgeous-Alexander plays how he did Friday night and OKC’s role players step up, it is going to be hard for anyone to hand the Thunder a loss.