Domantas Sabonis’ muscles flexed as he wrapped his anaconda-like arms around the basketball, engulfing it in the process.
He’d been feasting on the glass all night. And as Sacramento trailed OKC by two points in the final minute of Tuesday’s thriller, it seemed like there was no chance he’d cough up this big-time defensive board.
Until he ran into two players who were somehow hungrier than him.
Before Sabonis could even collect his thoughts, he was ransacked by the thieving Thunder duo of Isaiah Hartenstein and Lu Dort. They pried the ball away to give OKC a second possession, which ended in a made 3-pointer by Alex Caruso that helped secure the 107-101 win.
“We always say it’s a 48-minute game,” Dort said. “Especially down the stretch in the fourth quarter, those possessions matter. … Whenever we can make an energy play like that, we’ll always do it.”
It’s one thing to make energy plays when you can. It’s another to make them when you need to, which is exactly what OKC did against Sacramento.
Alex Caruso returns to Thunder lineup after missing three games in concussion protocol
The Thunder found itself in the middle of a perfect storm. It was hit by waves of unlikely Kings buckets, uncharacteristic miscues and unprecedented cold stretches. But it weathered all of that and delivered in key moments to improve to 5-0 this season.
“It’s just the DNA of this team,” Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We understand how to win basketball games, and tonight was the perfect display of that. It wasn’t going our way for what felt like the whole night. … But we fought through it really well as a group and as individuals.”
Things were scary from the opening tipoff when Russell Westbrook decided to celebrate Halloween early. The former Thunder star impersonated Game-6 Klay Thompson during his return to Paycom Center by drilling three straight 3-pointers in the first six minutes.
OKC didn’t look like its usual self either. It committed a season-high 15 turnovers. It fouled jump shooters four times, although Gilgeous-Alexander estimated it was closer to “a million times.” And it missed nine straight shots during the third quarter throughout a span of five minutes and 31 seconds.
The Thunder trailed by three points entering the fourth quarter as a result, but that’s when it made the energy plays it needed. It started with Caruso, who’d missed the last three games while in concussion protocol.
The two-time champion recorded a steal and forced a jump ball on the Thunder’s first two defensive stands. He finished the game with two drawn charges, two steals and one block to go along with his eight points.
“It’s good to have Alex back,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “He did his thing tonight with the defense and disruption. He had his hands all over the ball. … He was great. We needed everybody.”
Ajay Mitchell continues his upward trajectory with Thunder
That included Ajay Mitchell, who was next to step up.
Sacramento claimed an 89-83 lead at the 10:36 mark. And while that’s usually when OKC will look to Gilgeous-Alexander, he was looking on from the bench as he got a breather.
But Mitchell breathed life into the Thunder instead with a personal 5-0 run. The moment wasn’t too big for the sophomore guard, and neither were any of Sacramento’s defenders. He challenged all of them at the rim with aggressive drives throughout the night in addition to showcasing his sharpshooting skills.
Mitchell scored 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field (3 for 7 from deep) in 24 minutes off the bench.
“It’s been really fun having that confidence from Coach (Daigneault) but also from my teammates,” Mitchell said. “It makes it really easy for me to just go out there and focus on playing basketball. Going out there to have fun, make the right play and just do what it takes to win.”
The next energy play came when OKC trailed 99-97 with 1:44 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Dort hit the back iron so hard that the ball flew directly up in the air. Those under the rim froze for a moment while they waited for gravity to kick in, but Aaron Wiggins wasn’t that patient.
The man who saved basketball truly looked like a super hero, as he soared through the air to snatch the offensive board. He then bounced a pass to Hartenstein for an and-one layup.
Wiggins missed all four of his shot attempts during the fourth quarter, but plays like that made up for his misfires. He finished with six rebounds, six assists and a career-high three blocks to go along with his 18 points.
“The guys did a great job of just sticking with it,” Daigneault said. “And that’s where the competitive spirit of these guys shows up. … Nobody had their fastball tonight, and yet everybody made plays to give us enough to win the game.”
Thunder ‘flexed our resilience muscle’
It was only right that the final play came from the playmaker, though.
Even after Caruso’s made 3-pointer in the final minute, Sacramento trimmed the deficit to three points with 36.4 seconds remaining. So the Thunder placed the ball into the hands of Gilgeous-Alexander.
The reigning scoring champ had gone 0 for 4 from deep all night, and he’d missed multiple mid-range jumpers that are usually money. But Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t thinking about those shots in the moment.
He was thinking about the countless ones he’d made throughout the years in practice.
“Wherever I am on the floor, I usually have a shot that I’ve shot many times before and I’m comfortable shooting,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I go to it. And whether it goes in or not, I find out that night. But it’s something I’m comfortable shooting, for sure.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was about to find out.
With only 18 seconds remaining, he dribbled toward the right wing and heaved a stepback 3-pointer over DeMar DeRozan. It found the bottom of the net, giving Gilgeous-Alexander a game-high 31 points to go along with nine boards.
But most importantly, it gave OKC the win. One it refused to have ripped away, just like all of its narrow victories this season.
“I do think we’ve flexed our resilience muscle in this stretch,” Daigneault said, “just by staying persistent and enduring what was a very challenging stretch of games in a condensed period of time. The guys did a great job of just sticking with it.”
Justin Martinez covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Justin? He can be reached at jmartinez@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @Justintohoops. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Justin’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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