The Oklahoma City Thunder have not played their best basketball as of late. On Christmas Day, they lost their third straight game to the San Antonio Spurs this season, and a week ago they lost back-to-back games to the Phoenix Suns and Charlotte Hornets as double-digit favourites.
Things continued to look problematic for the Thunder on Saturday. They were down 77-56 with three minutes and 54 seconds into the first half when Oklahoma City went on an offensive surge. They outscored the Grizzlies 61-39 over the last 20 minutes and six seconds en route to a magical 117-116 victory.
Two of the Thunder heroes were shooting guard Alex Caruso of College Station, Texas and Canadian shooting guard Luguentz Dort of Montreal, Quebec. Caruso had a key block shot and Dort had a game-winning rebound on a missed field goal attempt by Grizzlies shooting guard Cedric Coward of Fresno. California. Coward’s shot attempt was from 14 feet.
It was apropos that the Thunder won the game from their defense. The Thunder give up 108.4 points per game, which is the lowest number of points per game a team has given up in a game this season.
Offensively on Saturday, five Thunder players reached double digits in scoring. Shooting guard Jalen Williams of Denver, Colorado led the way with 26 points and 10 assists. Shooting guard Ajay Mitchell of Namur, Belgium had 23 points, power forward Kenrich Williams of Waco, Texas had 21 points, shooting guard Aaron Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina had 16 points, and Dort had 13 points. The Thunder also won on Sunday by a score of 124-112 over the Miami Heat. They are 33-7 on the season, and the best in the NBA.
