Jan. 8, 2026, 12:00 p.m. CT
Boxing out Lauri Markkanen, Chet Holmgren grabbed a critical miss. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s spin move couldn’t result in a go-ahead bucket with 22 seconds left in overtime. Before folks could even process the consequences, the 23-year-old slammed down a second-chance dunk.
The Oklahoma City Thunder survived a potential disaster with a 129-125 overtime win over the Utah Jazz. Once up by 20 points on the rebuilding squad, it looked like they were on their way to their first three-game losing streak in two seasons.
Holmgren finished with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 12 rebounds and one assist. He shot 0-of-3 from 3 and went 5-of-8 on free throws. He also had three blocks and a steal.
The old sports cliche goes that it’s not about how you start, but how you finish. Holmgren exemplified that. He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as he grinded out the final 17 minutes of game time in a contest the Thunder badly needed.
It was a busy night at the paint for Holmgren. The Jazz have a couple of large bodies, but Markkanen and Jusuf Nurkic aren’t exactly known as rim protectors. The Thunder spammed several alley-oops to him as some microwavable offense. When that didn’t happen, he was there to crash the glass and get some second-chance scores.
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On the other end, Holmgren stepped up when needed. Sure, the Jazz sliced through OKC’s paint defense. But the seven-footer’s presence down the stretch forced Utah to play out some carnival-like possessions where it resorted to throwing up some wild shot attempts.
Reviewing the film, there are definitely things that could be corrected in the first three quarters. But what Holmgren did in the final 17 minutes showed you why he was one of the biggest contributors to OKC’s championship last season. At the highest-pressure spots, he helped the Thunder continue to roll along and got enough stops.
“If you’re feeling tired, they’re feeling tired. Just continuing to try and really just hammer away at what we do. Down the stretch, we were able to get some good cracks and get some high percentage plays. Whether it was some drives to the paint, some dump-offs for finishes or putbacks. Whatever it might be,” Holmgren said. “I think we did a really good job of not straying away from what we do. Even though there were points in the game that were challenging. It worked out for us in the end.”