No Chet Holmgren, no drawback for the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, who defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 134-128 on Monday, bettering to 9-2. The Thunder gained because of an enormous evening from celebrity guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose career-high 45 factors pushed the group to victory. Furthermore, their small-ball lineup had their fingers full with Ivica Zubac and a Clipper group who shot 55% from the sector and 54.1% from three, and who grabbed 18 extra rebounds. Nonetheless, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault credited SGA for his evolution because the chief of the group.
“You guys could be shocked at how little I coach him,” the coach mentioned, by way of Thunder beat author Brandon Rahbar on X, previously Twitter. “He’s one of the best individual to drive his growth plan. As a result of nobody cares extra about his recreation than he does.”
SGA’s profession evening leads Thunder previous Clippers
In addition to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder additionally relied on Jalen Williams, who scored 28 factors, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished six dimes in opposition to the Clippers.
The Clips don’t have any Kawhi Leonard for the foreseeable future, however they’re an extremely resilient group who performs arduous each evening, and the Thunder needed to concentrate on their defensive effort amid Zubac’s emergence, Harden’s playmaking, and Norman Powell’s scorching begin.
“I believe what they lean again on is that they are extremely aggressive,” Mark Daigneault mentioned, by way of Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. “They need to win. And so they’re extremely related. In order that they’re gonna do no matter it takes to win, they usually’re gonna do it collectively.”
Moreover, the Thunder’s swarming protection restricted Harden to 17 factors on 5-15 taking pictures, whereas fouling out Powell, although he did rating 31 factors. Zubac needed to carry a lot of the offensive load, and he scored 22 factors on 12 pictures in 34 minutes.
Nonetheless, Mark Daigneault’s changes to the Thunder’s small-ball protection, and SGA’s dominance on offense proved an excessive amount of for the pesky Clippers squad.
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SGA additionally commented on evolving his recreation after the win.
“Each nice participant fights looking for a stability between when to attain, take over, and when to make the proper play to get your teammates concerned, and it is one thing that I proceed to work on and proceed to get higher at,” the celebrity mentioned. “Each of them work hand in hand.”
The Thunder plan to proceed successful amid Holmgren’s absence in opposition to the Zion Williamson-less and the Dejounte Murray-less New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.