Halftime stats: Thunder lead Rockets by 11 without Gilgeous-Alexander, Hill
The Oklahoma City Thunder were down both of their starting guards against the Houston Rockets one game after that same Rockets team had demolished them by 30 points.
That was no issue for Oklahoma City in the first half on Wednesday. The Thunder rolled to a 54-43 lead over Houston at halftime. The 43 points for the Rockets was the fewest the team has had in the first half all season.
Oklahoma City built its lead up to 19 in the second quarter before going into the half up by 11.
Forward Kenrich Williams led the Thunder with 12 points off the bench, which is only two shy of his season-high. In 11 minutes, he went 4-for-5 from the field and made both 3-pointers he attempted. This is his first game with multiple 3-pointers of the season.
Starting power forward Darius Bazley had 11 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes and Al Horford had 10 points.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the Thunder’s performance was their lack of turnovers despite the lack of experienced ball handlers. Oklahoma City only had two turnovers in the first quarter, during which they scored 30 points. They had eight in the second quarter, but half of the team’s turnovers overall came from Horford. The other players combined for five.
The Thunder forced Houston into 13 turnovers.
Oklahoma City also got to the free throw line a lot. The team went 12-for-14 from the line, far outpacing the Rockets’ 5-for-7 line from the charity stripe.
The Thunder have seemingly pushed the pace after every board. Playing a lineup without one individual primary ball handler, rebounders are often grabbing it and taking it up themselves, limiting Houston’s ability to establish a defense as Oklahoma creates its offense.
It’s working. The Thunder won’t get Gilgeous-Alexander’s output this game, but they’ve found a way to play a very good, clean game against Houston.
On defense, the team is better too, as only five of 10 Rockets players who stepped on the court even scored a basket.
It’s an intriguing game without the OKC guards — or Houston guard John Wall — but Oklahoma City is playing the way head coach Mark Daigneault hoped when he said pregame that they wanted to get a look at a lineup without a primary playmaker.
