Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career-high 45 points to help the Oklahoma City Thunder secure a 134-128 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night.
The Thunder are now 3-0 this season when playing the second game of a back-to-back. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Clippers.
At one point, Oklahoma City led by 20 points, but the Clippers rallied and cut the lead down to just three with a little over two minutes left. However, Gilgeous-Alexander responded with a clutch step-back 3-pointer.
Ivica Zubac’s three-point play with 42 seconds remaining made it 130-128, but Gilgeous-Alexander sealed the game by hitting two free throws. Luguentz Dort then stole the ball, leading to a dunk by Jalen Williams in the final seconds to put the game out of reach.
The Thunder had to play without Chet Holmgren, who suffered a pelvic fracture in a loss to the Golden State Warriors the day before. Because of that, Oklahoma City relied heavily on Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot 13-of-21 from the field and made a season-high four 3-pointers. Williams added 28 points, shooting 11-of-16.
As a team, the Thunder shot 51.6 percent from the floor and were nearly perfect from the free-throw line, hitting 22 of 23 attempts. Before the game, the Thunder announced that Holmgren will be re-evaluated in 8 to 10 weeks.
Without Holmgren and with several other frontcourt players injured, Oklahoma City went with a smaller lineup. The team found success for most of the game, especially with Williams starting alongside Aaron Wiggins and Dort in the frontcourt.
The Thunder led for most of the game and extended their lead to 20 points midway through the third quarter. However, the Clippers made a comeback, going on a 25-10 run to close the gap to five heading into the final quarter.
During the run, Zubac scored six points and had a block, while Norman Powell contributed 12 points. Powell also had two steals in the last two minutes of the quarter, which led to easy points for the Clippers.
Powell finished with 31 points, scoring 18 of those in the third quarter, and made five 3-pointers. Zubac ended with 22 points and 14 rebounds, as the Clippers outrebounded the Thunder 56-34.
