The Oklahoma City Thunder were able to have one of their most impressive performances on both ends of the floor Thursday as they defeated the Brooklyn Nets, 130-109.
Even with the discretion that the Nets sat out Kevin Durant due to rest and Kyrie Irving’s inability to play home games, along with the fact that this was the second night of a back-to-back that featured the first game not tipping off until 9 p.m. CT, this was still an overall impressive win for the rebuilding Thunder against a Nets team with title aspiration.
The Thunder, who are ranked 29th in the NBA in offensive rating, hit on all of their cylinders this game as they finished the game with a season-high in points scored (130), first-half points scored (70), three-pointers made (20) and assists (32).
The young core trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Lu Dort led the way as they finished with a combined 79 points. Five players scored double digit points this game for the Thunder. For the Nets, James Harden led the way with 26 points on 7-of-22 shooting.
The Thunder basically led this game throughout its entirety, with a lead as big as 23 points. The Nets were able to make it somewhat interesting in the fourth quarter as they cut the lead to single digits with Gilgeous-Alexander off the court. But when the Thunder had its three-headed monster in Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort and Giddey on the floor to close this one out, they were able to handle its business and seal this comfortable win. With all that said, let’s take a look at player grades:
