The OKC Thunder avenged its lone loss of the season on Sunday.
OKC (17-1) cruised to a 122-95 home win over the Portland Trail Blazers. It was a statement performance after the Thunder lost the first meeting on the road on Nov. 5.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 37 points and seven assists in 30 minutes. He shot 13 for 18 from the field (2 for 3 from deep).
Here are three takeaways from the win:
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Jaylin Williams delivered quarterback-quality assists
Football is king in the state of Arkansas, where Jaylin Williams was born and raised.
And while it’s been a while since he dabbled in throwing the pigskin around, those quarterbacking skills could be seen on a day of the week that’s practically owned by the NFL.
Gilgeous-Alexander got past his defender on a slant route to the rim late in the first quarter and immediately locked eyes Williams, who had the ball at the top of the arc. It wasn’t hard for the Thunder big man to look over the defense and spot his open teammate. He is 6-foot-9, after all.
Williams then sailed a precision pass to Gilgeous-Alexander, who made an over-the-shoulder catch and sank a layup.
That was one of the many quarterback-quality finds by Williams on Sunday. He finished with four rebounds to go along with his five points in only 14 minutes of action.
Williams has recorded at least four assists in three of his last six outings.
Ajay Mitchell is already a high-level finisher
Less than two minutes earlier, Ajay Mitchell was laying flat on the floor.
He’d been dragged down by the collar of his jersey while attempting a layup over Rayan Rupert, who was assessed a flagrant foul for the reckless play. And after bouncing back up, he could be seen gingerly walking around while his teammates rushed over to his defense.
And yet Mitchell showed no signs of hesitation when attacking the paint a few possessions later. He fearlessly flew into 7-1 center Yang Hansen and released a high-arcing shot that fell through the rim.
There seemingly isn’t anything that can deter Mitchell, who’s finishing from close range at a high level this season. He entered Sunday shooting 64.7% from inside the restricted area on four attempts per game.
That’s a better percentage on more attempts than Denver’s Jamal Murray (64.2% on 3.5 attempts), Memphis’ Ja Morant (55.3% on 3.2 attempts) and Atlanta’s Trae Young (53.3% on three attempts).
Mitchell recorded 20 points, five assists and two steals in 24 minutes. He made all eight of his shot attempts, including two from deep.
Thunder capitalized on turnovers
Sunday’s game marked a matchup between two of the most chaos-causing defenses in the NBA.
OKC entered the game with a league-leading average of 18.1 turnovers forced per contest. Portland tied for third in that department with 16.9 turnovers forced.
And while the Thunder narrowly won that battle at a glance, 17-14, it did a much better job of capitalizing. It converted those miscues into 28 points compared to 11 for the Trail Blazers.
Tip-ins
- Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 20 points in 90 consecutive regular-season games, which is the third-longest streak in NBA history. He trails Wilt Chamberlain, who had two streaks of 126 games and 92 games.
- Aaron Wiggins missed his ninth straight game due to a left adductor strain. OKC also continued to be without Thomas Sorber, Nikola Topić, Jalen Williams and Kenrich Williams, who have yet to play this season.
- Portland was without key contributors such as Jrue Holiday (right calf strain), Shaedon Sharpe (right calf strain) and Scoot Henderson (left hamstring tear).
- Next up for OKC is its final two NBA Cup group play games. It’ll host Minnesota at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and Phoenix at 8:30 p.m. Friday. The Thunder (2-0) holds first place in Group A of the Western Conference.
Justin Martinez covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Justin? He can be reached at jmartinez@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @Justintohoops. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Justin’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
Thunder vs. Timberwolves
TIPOFF: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City (ESPN)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder avenges lone loss, routs Trail Blazers to improve to 17-1
