Short-handed, tired, and far from perfect, and still standing.

The Oklahoma City Thunder fought through a physical, emotional night to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 104–95 on Tuesday at Paycom Center, snapping a two-game skid and avoiding their first three-game losing streak of the season.

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t smooth. But it was the kind of win that good teams have to find when things aren’t clicking.

“We didn’t have our fastball,” head coach Mark Daigneault said. “So we had to kind of gut out a win with defense, possession game, and offensive rebounding. Sometimes you’ve just got to crawl through the mud to win a game.”

Defense sets the tone

From the opening tip, Oklahoma City’s defense was the foundation. The Thunder packed the paint, crowded driving lanes, and made Zion Williamson work for everything.

“I thought the execution of the game plan was good throughout the game,” Daigneault said. “We did a great job of personnel recognition… knowing who their best shooters are, who we can play off of a little bit. Zion was a huge emphasis. I thought we had him in a crowd. He had to earn his points.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander echoed that same theme.

“Pretty much all night we did a good job defensively,” SGA said. “We gave ourselves a chance. We didn’t have the best offensive night, but our defense was stellar and gave us a chance to win.”

Winning without rhythm

The Thunder missed their first eight shots and never really found offensive flow. But instead of forcing it, they leaned into effort plays, second chances, rebounds, hustle, and discipline.

The biggest difference? Offensive rebounding.

“We had 26 second-chance points,” Daigneault said. “We turned it over uncharacteristically, didn’t have a free-throw advantage, didn’t really have any other advantage. If we don’t offensive rebound like that, we don’t win tonight.”

Chet Holmgren led that effort with 20 points, 14 rebounds, and five blocks, setting the physical tone on both ends. Isaiah Joe hit timely shots off the bench, Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins delivered clutch threes, and the Thunder built a lead.

“That’s a good muscle to build,” Daigneault said. “Competing on an imperfect night and coming out with a win is a good thing.”

Shai leads through control, not efficiency

It wasn’t a clean shooting night for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (8-for-22), but it was a controlled one. He finished with 29 points, attacked the paint, lived at the free-throw line (13-for-14), and stabilized the game when OKC needed it.

“He managed the game really well,” Daigneault said. “It wasn’t a great shot-making night for him, but his floor game was good. His control was good. He stabilized us at some critical times.”

SGA focused on his fundamentals once again.

“Guys stepping into rhythm shots, shots they’re comfortable shooting,” he said. “The only way to score is to shoot the basketball. You can’t deter from that no matter what’s going on.”

Growth through adversity

With Jalen Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso all sidelined, Oklahoma City continues to rely on depth, adaptability, and internal growth.

“We’re going to need 1 through 15 at some point this season,” SGA said. “The more guys get reps, the better they become. There’s always a positive in every situation.”

Daigneault sees it the same way, not as survival, but as development.

“All the guys did a great job competing,” he said. “That’s something that helps you down the road.”

Not pretty. But important.

Tempers flared late. Emotions ran high. The game had no rhythm. But the result mattered.

Oklahoma City improves to 38–10, avoids a three-game skid at home, and continues navigating a difficult stretch of the schedule without key rotation pieces.

“It was an important game,” Daigneault said simply. “Because it’s the only one we got to play today.”

Sometimes, that’s enough.