Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores career-high 45 points to lead OKC Thunder past LA Clippers
Life in 2024 W.C. (Without Chet) gripped the Thunder just seconds into Monday night’s game.
The Clippers wasted no time feeding 7-foot, 240-pound center Ivica Zubac. After all, he faced a lineup without a player taller than 6-6. But OKC wasted no time stripping Zubac. Poking ball after ball, drawing one offensive foul after another.
Life without Chet Holmgren seemed doable. Possible. Just not easy, clawing for a 134-128 win down to the last seconds.
OKC forced 23 turnovers. It held Zubac to three first-half shots. It swarmed the way its small lineups have been known to. It led by as much as 17 early in the third quarter.
But for 48 minutes?
The activity is taxing. A demand that coffee drinkers and late-night thinkers can’t even begin to quantify. A tall task for a short, short-handed team. There is no metric for what the Thunder is being asked to do without a traditional center in the lineup.
And Monday’s win wouldn’t come without a reminder of life without Holmgren.
Zubac took 10 shots in the second half, nearly tripling his first-half output. He dropstepped, stretching his wingspan past OKC’s tiny backline. He remembered who he was. And OKC scrambled to fill holes that came with it, as well as the shotmaking that was bound to come for the Clippers.
The Clippers shot a scorching 55% from the field and 54.1% from 3. They grabbed 18 more rebounds than OKC. That’s a lethal potion, almost guaranteed to make a team with Holmgren foam at the mouth, let alone one without.
But small ball is a way of life in Smallville, OK.
“I think what they lean back on is that they're highly competitive,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “They want to win. And they’re highly connected. So they’re gonna do whatever it takes to win, and they’re gonna do it together.”
And they did. They were reminded of what it would take without Holmgren. Where they’d need to send double teams and when. When they’d need to poke their hands in the passing lanes. The accuracy required, as well as the margin of error as slim as Holmgren.
Coupled with a career-high 45 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists from Jalen Williams, the Thunder kept up.
“It’s just trusting each other to make extra plays, and not try and force stuff because (Holmgren is) out,” forward and now-pseudo center Jalen Williams said. “That’s something that we had to do without (Hartenstein) playing. … Just human nature, you try to get it all back at once. So, I think we’ve done a good job of just helping each other out as a team.”
The pendulum eventually swung back toward the shorties. The Thunder was just enough trouble for James Harden (17 points, 5-for-15 shooting with five fouls and five turnovers) and Normal Powell (fouled out, but not before pouring in 31 points) that it placed the game in Zubac’s hands.
Those hands might've been too big to thrive in Smallville.
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SGA letting the game, and a career-high, come to him
Gilgeous-Alexander chuckled, admitting it sounded redundant. It was.
“Take what the defense gives you,” he said, perhaps for the 15th time in a five-minute span, almost beginning to sound like an echo.
The repetition is what he’s hoped to drill. What he hoped would bring him closer to nights like Monday, when he dropped 45 points. Or some other hypothetical night when he might watch his teammates eat, perhaps even be the reason for it, with an opposing defense so threatened by SGA’s mere touch of the ball.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s newfound perspective is to fight the temptation of choosing to drive or rush to his signature spots on every possession. To, again, take what a defense gives him — not override the game himself.
“Every great player fights trying to find a balance between when to score, take over, and when to make the right play and get your teammates involved,” he said, “and it's something that I continue to work on and continue to get better at. Both of them work hand in hand.”
He navigated that well on Monday. And who would’ve guessed it: the Thunder, without Holmgren, would need Gilgeous-Alexander to step on the gas. It needed all 45.
All four of his 3-point makes, this time on eight attempts. All 15 of his free-throws, missing just one attempt. Every last probe, every last midrange jumper. Gilgeous-Alexander was “vintage,” as coach Mark Daigneault cared to label him postgame: a product, according to Daigneault, of letting the game come to him.
A process that was born the night SGA and his Thunder lost in the Western Conference semifinals back in May.
“I don't say this to slight my teammates,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, “but I feel like the end of our season last year, in the playoffs — obviously for a lot of them it was the first time in the playoffs and playing games that meaningful. And I don't want to say they weren't ready, but I feel like I could have equipped them better throughout the year in taking shots, getting to spots and being more comfortable in certain positions on the court, especially offensively.”
Eyebrows raise at the idea that Gilgeous-Alexander, such a silky scorer who’s guilty of temptation, has a career-high of just 45. He’s hovered around it several times, but ultimately never reaches too far outside of himself.
Monday, to SGA, felt like “just another basketball game.”
“It’s very easy to get caught in individual performances,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But no individual has ever won a championship. That’s my main goal with basketball.”
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Thunder vs. Clippers live score updates
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What time is Thunder vs. Clippers
Date: Monday, Nov. 11
Time: 7 p.m. CT
Where: Paycom Center in Oklahoma City
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What channel is OKC Thunder vs LA Clippers on today?
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
How to watch online: Fubo (free trial)
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM
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Thunder vs. Clippers odds
Odds courtesy of via BetMGM as of Monday, Nov. 11
Odds: Thunder by 6.5
Over/under: 218.5
Moneyline: OKC -275 | Los Angeles +220
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OKC Thunder roster
Alex Caruso, PG
Ousmane Dieng, SF
Luguentz Dort, SG
Alex Ducas, SG *
Adam Flagler, PG
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, SG
Isaiah Hartenstein, C
Chet Holmgren, PF
Isaiah Joe, SG
Dillon Jones, SF
Ajay Mitchell, SG *
Alex Reese, PF
Nikola Topić, PG
Cason Wallace, SG
Aaron Wiggins, SG
Jalen Williams, SG
Jaylin Williams, PF
Kenrich Williams, PF
*-two-way contract
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OKC Thunder schedule
Friday, Nov. 8: OKC 126, Houston 107
Sunday, Nov. 10: vs. Golden State at 6 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network)
Monday, Nov. 11: vs. Los Angeles Clippers at 7 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network and NBA TV)
Wednesday, Nov. 13: vs. New Orleans at 6:30 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network and ESPN)
Friday, Nov. 15 (NBA Cup game): vs. Phoenix at 7 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network)
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Thunder vs. Clippers highlights
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 45 points as OKC Thunder beats Clippers
