Player grades: Thunder snap 0-8 streak vs. Warriors in 137-128 win

OKLAHOMA CITY — In the opening minutes, it was clear that this game wasn’t going to play out like the others from this season.

Thanks to an SGA driving dunk, the Golden State Warriors were forced to call a timeout less than three minutes into the game as the Oklahoma City Thunder quickly created a 9-2 advantage.

After losing their previous two matchups this season against the Warriors by an average of 17.5 points, the young Thunder weren’t going to get bullied around again.

Snapping an eight-game losing streak against the Warriors, the Thunder ended their six-game homestand exorcising their Golden State demons in a 137-128 win.

The starting backcourt duo highlighted the Thunder win. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and Josh Giddey collected an impressive triple-double of 17 points, 17 assists and 11 rebounds.

The Thunder started off strong as they led 40-30 following the first quarter in a high-scoring affair.

The rest of the game played out like a heavyweight boxing fight between a decorated veteran and a young up-and-comer. By the end of the game, neither team led by more than 15 points as they continuously exchanged blows and were constantly in arm’s length of each other on the scoreboard.

“A lot of rans but we just never let ourselves get knocked down. Ate some punches and kept coming,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said.

For the Warriors, Stephen Curry lit up OKC from deep as he finished with 40 points on 14-of-23 shooting and went a ridiculous 10-of-16 from 3. Klay Thompson also killed the Thunder, scoring 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting and 5-of-13 shooting from 3. Draymond Green had 11 points and 11 assists while Jonathan Kuminga scored 21 points.

The Warriors had an outstanding night from 3 — going 20-of-51 (39.2%) — but they were nearly matched with the Thunder as they went 17-of-37 (45.9%) from outside.

After losing five consecutive games after the All-Star break, the Thunder have won three consecutive games and are now tied for the 10th seed — something that excites both fans and Gilgeous-Alexander.

“It’s exciting. I think meaningful basketball games are the best part of the season,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Late stretch, playoff games, those are games that we live for.”

Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A+

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With how minutes were distributed this game, it was evident the Thunder badly wanted this win. Only eight players exceeded 15 minutes with the Thunder starters averaging 34 minutes.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander backed up that desire with 33 points on 14-of-24 shooting, six assists and three rebounds.

With Gilgeous-Alexander already ruled out for the second game of this back-to-back as he sits OKC’s road game against the Phoenix Suns, this game was critical towards the Thunder’s playoff hopes.

Gilgeous-Alexander delivered as he went tic-for-tac with Stephen Curry’s 42 points. Feeling himself from outside, Gilgeous-Alexander went 2-of-5 from 3, a rare high number of 3-point attempts for the All-Star guard.

It was another ho-hum 30-point night for Gilgeous-Alexander that he’s somehow normalized.

Josh Giddey: A+

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With the Thunder offense running like a well-oiled machine, it was easy for Josh Giddey to stack up dimes.

Giddey finished with his seventh career triple double as he had 17 points, a career-high 17 assists and 11 rebounds.

“He played with great force. I thought he did a great job at getting to the line and spraying out,” Daigneault said. “A lot of his assists this year have been kind of an advantage situations or post-ups, elbow iso’s. Tonight, I thought he got a lot of assists on drives which is something he’s been working on.”

Playing against him, Giddey did his best Draymond Green impersonation as he was a key cog to the Thunder scoring 137 points as a facilitator. It was a great game for the young Thunder backcourt that showed the ceiling of the duo’s pairing.

Jaylin Williams: A-

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The first shot of the game went to Jaylin Williams, who hit a 26-foot right-wing three-pointer.

Boom.

The OKC crowd cheered loudly for the made 3-pointer and it previewed the active night fans in the arena would have as the Thunder came away with a win against the despised Warriors.

Williams played an important role in this win as he finished with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and went 3-of-5 from 3 and grabbed six rebounds.

Williams noted after the game that the crowd provided them energy the louder their cheers grew as a win came closer to materializing.

“The crowd was amazing tonight. It was loud in there. It’s the games we all love playing in,” Williams said. “We feed off of it a lot of times. When the crowd’s loud, we yell with them.”

Dario Saric: B+

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After being involved in a trade as a financial piece to make the numbers work, Dario Saric has played his way into being a legit rotation piece for the Thunder.

Saric wrapped up an impressive homestand with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and was a plus-17 in his 15 minutes off the bench.

In his last six games, Saric is averaging 11.5 points and 3.8 rebounds.

Saric has jumped Jeremiah Robinson-Earl in the rotation and continues to build a strong case for the Thunder to at least consider bringing him back next season as wing depth.

HIGHLIGHTS

Story originally appeared on Thunder Wire