Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t use Lu Dort’s screen and instead hits a step-back 3-pointer to seal another late fourth-quarter comeback.

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings 107-101 Tuesday inside the Paycom Center. The Thunder was down by 10 points late in the third quarter, but pulled off another comeback to continue a season-starting five-game win streak and finish a tough stretch of games to begin the 2025-26 campaign.

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The Thunder used the 3-pointer — something the team struggled with entering the game — to pull away and secure the win, even though the team didn’t shoot well from the arc throughout the game.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s 3-pointer with 16 seconds left combined with Dort’s lead-taking 3-pointer in the final three minutes and Alex Caruso’s 3-pointer in the final minute were massive in securing another win for the Thunder.

This is the Thunder’s fourth close game already this season, winning all four.

It has exposed the Thunder, which is without All-NBA forward Jalen Williams and a handful of other role players, to late-game scenarios it will likely face later down the road in the playoffs.

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OKC coach Mark Daigneault said it’s been about getting the team ready for situations like these and seeking improvement along with it.

“I think the biggest thing is just exposing the guys to different situations and encouraging some critical thinking in different ways,” Daigneault said. “It’s about preparing the team to think on the fly and recognize the patterns and recognize situations and this team’s been in that process now for a long time and we’ve been in a lot of those games and handled those things well.

“We’re certainly not a finished product through five games, but we have had good execution in those situations for the most part again tonight.”

The Thunder played with plenty of key players out Tuesday, including Williams and forward Chet Holmgren, but that didn’t stop the team from persisting through a tough stretch of game minutes.

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The Thunder also has fought through a tough five-game start, which included two double-overtime games, trips to Indiana, Atlanta and Dallas, and a back-to-back that ended with the Kings tonight.

The Thunder, as champions do, propelled through that stretch undefeated, even though at times the Thunder didn’t play as well as it can this season.

“I think it hasn’t been, like, a masterclass of execution, but I do think we’ve kind of flexed our resilience muscle in this stretch,” Daigneault said. “Just by staying persistent and kind of enduring what was a very challenging stretch of games in a condensed period of time.”