OKC Thunder player grades: SGA’s 36 points pushes Thunder to OT win over Pacers, 129-125

The Oklahoma City Thunder leave Gainbridge Fieldhouse with an overtime win and a season series split over the Indiana Pacers, 129-125.

In terms of the bigger picture of lottery odds, this win hurts the cause as the Pacers are just now a half-game back from the Thunder in the reverse standings. With the opportunity to grow some distance between themselves and the field for the fourth-best lottery odds, this win makes things much more interesting in the final stretch of the regular season.

With Josh Giddey a late scratch due to hip soreness, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was able to play on his Plan A as the lead ball-handler and turned in one of his best scoring games of the season as he finished with 36 points on 13-of-24 shooting. Tre Mann also stepped up and added 22 points.

For the Pacers, Buddy Hield led the way with 29 points and had seven players in double-digit scoring.

In terms of the actual 53 minute game, it was a very competitive contest as both teams went back and forth without either really growing that big of a lead. The Thunder’s offense was humming along as it scored 92 points in just the first three quarters. The worst three point shooting team in the league shot the ball well from outside as the Thunder went 11-of-31 (35.5%) and also dished out 23 team assists. The Thunder finished with five players scoring at least 10 points. Let’s take a look at player grades.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A+

Two games back and Gilgeous-Alexander has looked fantastic. In this game, without Giddey, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 36 points on an efficient 13-of-24 shooting that included going 9-of-12 from the free throw line. The only thing that needs a bit of cleaning up is the ball security as he finished with seven turnovers.

But other than that small nitpick, Gilgeous-Alexander was great in his return during this back-to-back as he totaled 68 points on 26-of-46 (56.5%) shooting and went 14-of-18 (77.7%) from the charity stripe and collected his 11th and 12th 30+ point games of the season.

Tre Mann: A+

After coming off the bench Thursday against the Phoenix Suns, Mann was thrown right back into the starting lineup with Giddey’s absence and turned in a great scoring output. Mann finished with 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting and also collected five assists.

Mann was able to score in a variety of ways with both attacks to the baskets and outside jumpers. Mann has really grown in the past month and it’s going to be interesting to see how Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault handles the minutes of the rookie guard as arguably four of the Thunder’s best players are all guards in Gilgeous-Alexander, Giddey, Lu Dort and Mann.

Aleksej Pokusevski: A-

Aleksej Pokusevski turned in another good performance as he finished with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Entering this game, Pokusevski has averaged 11 points on 49.2% shooting in his past seven performances.

As iterated after Thursday’s game, Pokusevski just continues to play consistently well this month and the 20-year-old could seriously salvage a poor sophomore campaign if he can continue to play like this more often than not for the rest of the season.

Theo Maledon: A-

While Theo Maledon’s overall second season has been a step back from his first season, recent weeks have shown some signs of life that Maledon still has room to grow. This game was an example of this as he finished with 14 points and went 3-of-5 from three. Maledon is shooting 23.1% from three this season, a much lower number than his 33.5% mark last season. The true Maledon is probably somewhere in the middle, which would make him a slightly below average three point shooter. Which would work wonders for Maledon’s chances of carving out an NBA role.

Darius Bazley: B-

Darius Bazley finished the game with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting and 10 rebounds. Bazley also stole the ball three times. This was a nice bounce back performance for Bazley after two poor offensive outings where he scored just four total points.

Isaiah Roby: B

Another solid game for Isaiah Roby as he recorded a 10 point and 11 rebound double double along with four assists. Roby was given the starting nod as Derrick Favors sat out this game and did well for himself.

Roby was part of the G League lineup that helped keep the Thunder in the game. On paper, the Pacers shouldn’t have struggled against the lineup but was unable to take advantage of it in reality.

Lindy Waters III: B

A good game for the two-way player as Lindy Waters III finished with eight points and hit a couple of timely threes late in the game. Waters III played a solid 24 minutes.

Tanking efforts: F

This win is going to sting for a little bit as now the Pacers are just half a game back from the Thunder in the reverse standings. Entering the game, the Thunder had a 1.5 game lead. The team could’ve used some wiggle room and increase the chances of securing top four lottery odds with a loss this game. But alas, it just didn’t happen. It’s really hard to be upset at the Thunder too since the Pacers struggled against literal G League lineups where all five Thunder guys have spent considerable amount of time with the Oklahoma City Blue.

There’s still 22 games left in the season so the Thunder have plenty of time to keep top four lottery odds and who knows — maybe even get in the elusive top three. But the clock is ticking and games like these could end up biting the Thunder later on down the road.

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