Player grades: Thunder wins heavyweight fight against Warriors, 138-136 in OT

OKLAHOMA CITY — Being fouled on a 3-pointer with 7.7 seconds left, Chet Holmgren had the chance to tie a high-scoring affair at the free-throw line.

With the entire crowd waiting in anticipation, the seven-foot rookie swished in all three attempts with ease.

“Make sure my hands are dry and just go out there and shoot free throws like I practice every day,” Holmgren said on what was going through his mind as Golden State challenged the foul.

The Oklahoma City Thunder extended the game against the Golden State Warriors beyond 48 minutes and came out victorious with a 138-136 overtime win.

“It was a great win because it was an uphill battle for us in a large part of the game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “… We were able to kinda stay in the game because of our defense and the way we kinda scrapped. We didn’t let the lead get out of control despite a slow start offensively…

“Obviously, great experience for us against a team of that quality. All these games against them, they really stress test you.”

The Thunder carried the momentum into the five-minute period, as a 12-3 run by OKC was capped off with a Holmgren corner 3-pointer with 2:40 left. The 3-pointer erupted the loud crowd into a frenzy as the Thunder led 130-121.

The Warriors threatened again as they cut it to as little as two points, but OKC always answered back to close out the tight two-point win.

It’s hard to believe this game turned out the way it did in the early stages of this contest. The Warriors built a 28-19 lead following the first quarter as OKC struggled to generate a flow on offense.

The Thunder quickly turned it around in the second quarter with a 37-point period. The offensive burst helped trim Golden State’s lead and entered halftime trailing 62-56.

A 33-point third quarter by the Thunder flipped the score as OKC entered the final frame with an 89-84 lead. The five-point lead quickly evaporated as the Warriors opened the fourth quarter on a 13-4 run to take a four-point lead.

From that point, it was a back-and-forth game that saw both teams exchange leads until there wasn’t enough time left in regulation.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Stephen Curry exchanged buckets in the final minutes as the All-NBA guards tried to wield their respective teams to a regulation victory.

Alas, four quarters wasn’t enough as this classic went an additional five minutes. The Thunder escaped with the home win following a 20-18 scoring advantage in OT. After all that, OKC wrapped up an entertaining regular-season series against Golden State by winning the final three matchups.

The Thunder had a weird offensive outing. Sure, they scored 138 points on 52% shooting — but OKC shot a miserable 5-of-29 (17.2%) from 3. That type of shooting night from deep usually spells doom, but a 31-of-36 night from the free-throw line helped make up the difference.

OKC conducted most of its scoring inside of the paint, where it dominated the Warriors, 78-50. A 28-point difference in that area will certainly help overcome a cold night from 3.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the way for the Thunder with 38 points on 15-of-30 shooting. Jalen Williams also contributed with 28 points and Holmgren totaled 21 points to go along with his three blocks.

Meanwhile, the Warriors had a more traditional high-octane offensive night. Golden State shot 47% from the field and went 19-of-48 (39.6%) from 3. It went 19-of-23 from the free-throw line and dished out 29 assists on 49 buckets.

Each time the Warriors had the ball, they usually produced points on an efficient level. The problem was they didn’t have the ball as often as they could’ve — OKC forced 29 turnovers, a franchise record and a 2023-24 regular season record.

The Thunder scored 35 points off of those turnovers, a significant difference from the Warriors’ six points in that same category.

“We shot the ball incredibly poorly from 3 and they turned it over a lot,” Daigneault said. “Someone’s gonna win anyways and we were the team that won… We were fortunate to win that game, it could’ve gone either way.”

Curry was typical Curry for the Warriors. The future Hall-of-Famer had 34 points on 10-of-20 shooting and went 6-of-12 from 3 — including 10 in OT as he almost single-handily brought Golden State back from the dead in the final two minutes.

Klay Thompson contributed with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting and went 4-of-9 from 3. A much better outing for him than his previous games against OKC.

Draymond Green had 12 points and 13 assists before he eventually fouled out and committed the crucial shooting foul on Holmgren in the aforementioned play that sent this game into OT.

Off the bench, Jonathan Kuminga had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Dario Saric had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

This was a massive win for the Thunder to conclude an entertaining regular-season series against the Warriors. Of their four matchups, two went into OT and another was decided by single digits.

The Warriors have been viewed as a contender before anybody notable on the Thunder entered the league. To go toe-to-toe against a team with that pedigree and history and to come out victorious in three of their four matchups speaks volumes as to how far OKC has progressed since last season.

“I just thought we had great mental toughness,” Daigneault said. “It wasn’t an easy game for us by any stretch of the imagination.”

Let’s look at Thunder player grades.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus

This was a big-time performance by a big-time star. Gilgeous-Alexander usually collects 30 points in his sleep, but the way he did against the Warriors was different.

In 42 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander had 38 points on 15-of-30 shooting, five assists, five rebounds and five steals. He also went 8-of-11 from the free-throw line. The 30-shot attempts marked a season-high for the 25-year-old.

“I feel like this is the most engaged defensively I’ve been,” Gilgeous-Alexander on leading the league in steals. “I think just as the years go on, I get smarter defensively… Kinda see the play before the play.”

It was a hard-earned 38 points for Gilgeous-Alexander as he had to work for every bucket he had. Time and time again, he hit tough pull-up jumper after tough pull-up jumper with a defender in his grill.

After a 15-point first half, Gilgeous-Alexander turned on the jets with a 12-point third quarter to help OKC turn a halftime deficit into a fourth-quarter lead.

In OT, Gilgeous-Alexander put on his cape and helped lead OKC to the impressive win. A pair of back-to-back buckets by him helped the Thunder create a six-point advantage.

Chet Holmgren: A-plus

The biggest moment of the night featured Holmgren when he knocked down all three high-stress free throws to tie the game late. With that said though, the rookie seven-footer was awesome all night long.

In 35 minutes, Holmgren had 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting, seven rebounds and three blocks. He went a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line.

After being held to 10 points in the first three quarters, Holmgren scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. A lot of his early-game struggles can be attributed to his early foul trouble. He picked up his third foul less than a minute into the second quarter.

Daigneault noted after the game that he stuck to his general philosophy of staying aggressive and allowing players to play through foul trouble. It paid off for OKC as he only picked up one more foul for the remainder of the game.

“I just want the refs to foul him out. I don’t want to foul him out,” Daigneault said. “… The conservative route on that usually bites you.”

In overtime, Holmgren scored six straight points for OKC off of a catch-and-shooter corner 3 and completed an and-one that was celebrated by his teammates.

The six points pushed OKC’s lead to 11 points with under two minutes to go in OT. Despite the Warriors making them sweat out those final seconds, the Thunder came away with the win in large part because of Holmgren.

Jalen Williams: A-plus

With the Thunder needing scoring outside of Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.

In 40 minutes, Williams scored 28 points on efficient 12-of-15 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three steals.

In the fourth quarter, he provided OKC with ammunition as he scored 12 points on jumpers and shots at the rim. As the Thunder and Warriors see-sawed the lead, Williams hit on some timely and badly needed buckets.

“That’s ‘Dub’,” Williams said on his highly-emotional reactions late in the game. “Usually I’m Jalen, that’s ‘Dub’. Whenever I start yelling it’s a different dude.”

The 22-year-old was part of OKC’s trio that led them to this impressive win. The Thunder needed every single one of Williams’ scores to go into overtime.

“He played probably the last 17 minutes of that game with the overtime,” Daigneault said on Williams. “And it’s almost like he got more energy as it went on.”

Josh Giddey: C-minus

It was a much more active night for Giddey — who is in the midst of a career-worst stretch.

In 25 minutes, Giddey had nine points on 4-of-12 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. He shot 1-of-6 from 3.

The 21-year-old did several of the things Daigneault pointed out he must do to get out of his current funk. He was active on the boards and helped push the pace. When the ball reached him, he made quick decisions instead of middling around.

While it wasn’t a perfect outing, this is definitely a step in the right direction as the Thunder try to help Giddey get back into a groove after a rough start to his third season.

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Story originally appeared on Thunder Wire