Oklahoma City – It took 6 tries but the Thunder finally get their first home win of the season in Billy Donovan’s return to Chesapeake Energy Arena.
It didn’t look too promising for the team as the Bulls started off hot and played great basketball for most of the game. They were up by as many as 22 in the game and second half and it looked like the Thunder were going to have to wait to get their first home win. Bulls star Zack Lavine was hot and stayed hot all night and had his 4th straight 30+ point game with 35 and also hitting 8 threes.
For most of the game the Bulls were shooting over 50% from the floor and 3 point line and they were making the Thunder defense look like it was the worst in the league.
The Thunder needed some kind of spark and that’s when Lu Dort took over in the 3rd quarter.
Dort has become one of the leagues best 3 and d guys in a short time and that really showed tonight. He took over in the 3rd hitting 5 of his 9 shots for 15 points with 3 of them being 3s. He was also doing it on the other end and had 3 steals in the quarter. The energy that he brought was definitely contagious because SGA then took over and became very animated on both ends of the court.
At one point in the 3rd, SGA was signaled to come out of the game for his routine rest but he waived his teammate off because he wanted to stay in the game. When they finally got him to come out of the game, he didn’t look happy about it at all and that’s the SGA we’ve been waiting for. He was visibly more animated and vocal tonight than he’s ever been and he showed the leadership that’s needed for a franchise player.
For a moment in the 4th, I thought they would just fold like a lot of young teams do because they fought back but the Bulls kept hitting shots and were up 16 with 4:40 left in the game. All signs pointed towards them winning. But this Thunder team never gives up. They locked in on both ends of the floor and ended the 4th on a 18-3 run to force OT.
In OT, it only took a few shots for the Thunder to fully grab control of the game but they won this one because they were finally able to get the stops they needed.
The Thunder ended up winning 127-125 and were led by SGA’s career high 33. He also added 10 assists and 5 rebounds while Dort gave 21 points 8 rebounds and a career high 6 steals. Roby in his 3rd start contributed 14 points and 4 rebounds while Muscala hit some very big shots and had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Kenrich Williams was his normal spark off the bench with 14 points and 5 rebounds.
There were 2 things that stuck out the most from this game. The first was that Dort is a serious threat from the 3 point line. He’s shooting 44.4% from there and his confidence is growing every game. The other was the leadership and animation SGA showed. We need more of that. His teammates seemed to respond to it and feed off of it during their comeback. That’s the next step for him.
The Thunder are back in Chesapeake on Sunday night to take on the 76ers before they hit the road for another 5 game road trip.
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