Thunder Show Resilience in Win Without SGA

It's been a tough run for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and on Friday things got even tougher.

Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was driving to the basket early in the second half against Indiana when his ankle twisted beneath him, sending him to the locker room and out of the rest of the game. Oklahoma City had a healthy cushion at the time and would expand its lead to as much as 16 in the third quarter, but Indiana stormed back in the absence of SGA.

The game deadlocked at 100 at the end of regulation, with Indiana unable to come up with the winning bucket. In overtime, OKC took a quick lead behind consecutive 3-pointers from Luguentz Dort.

But it was not to be. The Pacers fought back and the OKC offense went dry. With 10 seconds remaining and down by one, Thunder guard Tre Mann stole an errant Indiana pass and zoomed down the court with a man advantage. But Mann missed a gimme layup, Mike Muscala missed a putback attempt, and Justin Holiday finally secured an Indiana rebound to ice the game with free throws on the other end. OKC fell 113-110.

It wasn't clear at the time how serious Gilgeous-Alexander's injury would be. But the next day, the team announced SGA will miss at least three weeks with an ankle sprain and be reevaluated after the All-Star break.

It was tough news for a reeling Thunder squad, as Friday marked its seventh consecutive loss. In five tries, OKC had yet to win a ballgame this season without SGA.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said his whole squad must step up in SGA's absence.

"Shai's a great player, so that's a problem when you don't have a great player on the court," he said Sunday. "The way you solve that problem is with the team. You solve problems with five guys, and that's how we have to handle overcoming the adversity of not having Shai, and also any other adversity that we face through the course of the season."

OKC's next test was a manageable one: The Trail Blazers rolled into the Paycom Center Monday without Damian Lillard, who had abdominal surgery in January and will miss significant time.

Daigneault debuted a new starting five of Tre Mann, Dort, Josh Giddey, Aaron Wiggins and Derrick Favors for the contest, but Oklahoma City had a choppy start. Portland outscored OKC 31-19 through the first frame and stretched its lead to 18 in the second quarter.

But OKC rallied and cut its halftime deficit to eight.

In the second half, the Thunder finally took over. They knotted the game at 51 in the third quarter, prompting a Portland timeout. By the end of the quarter, they were up 65-61.

A 15-0 run in the fourth quarter helped OKC ice the game and win convincingly, 98-81, to snap the losing skid.

Without SGA, Oklahoma City got scoring from up and down the lineup. Dort paced the team with 18 points, while Darius Bazley had 15, Giddey had 14 and Mann 13. Giddey notched 12 rebounds to lead the team, while Ty Jerome had a teamhigh six assists off the bench.

"We solved the problem with five guys," Daigneault said after the game. "It wasn't one person carrying the load, it was just a style and a team orientation that allowed us to play off advantages. I thought the guys did a really good job of that."

OKC is now 15-34 on the season.

The Thunder hit the road this week beginning Wednesday, Feb. 2 in Dallas. Then on Friday they'll take on the Blazers again in Portland before swinging down to Sacramento on Saturday, Feb. 5.

Enjoy the games, and Thunder Up!