Chet Holmgren Comes Alive Offensively, Drowns Defensively in Elimination Loss

What's been a historic season for both Chet Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder has finally come to an end.

Playing in all 92 games, Holmgren anchored the way for the Thunder as the team's center, being relied upon in a multitude of ways. All along the interior, defensively and on the boards, spacing the floor sufficiently and sinking open threes, staying available as a lob threat and much more, Holmgren's impact on this team was invaluable -- and they would not have reached close to this point in his absence.

Of course there were other moves made from the Thunder front office to better this team from a season ago to now, but Holmgren virtually catapulted Oklahoma City from a Play-In team in 2022-23 to the first seed in the Western Conference and a near conference finals bid in 2023-24. Everybody improved, but the addition of the 7-foot-1 Gonzaga product fulfilled a hole that was missing, and he did everything in his power to leverage his play style for his team.

In the elimination game on Saturday evening, Holmgren's play still propped up the Thunder offense, having 21 points on 60% shooting but did struggle from three, coming in at 14.3% on his seven tries.

But on the other end is where he found himself in the red. With Dereck Lively II taking the reigns from Daniel Gafford and in a direct matchup with Holmgren, Lively II dominated, and it can't be put much different than that. 15 rebounds, four on the offensive, plus-26 in his time on the floor along with 12 points, his stat sheet was heavy, but the timing in which he increased those stats were immense.

Down the stretch, a plethora of Lively II offensive rebounds nearly single-handedly kept Dallas in range to complete a 17-point comeback. Consistently in the right position, fending off Holmgren and really wedging his physicality to his advantage, Lively II's presence on the boards tired the Oklahoma City defense and led to subsequent, heavy-hitting scores late in the game.

And the game ending on three free throws after a foul on P.J. Washington by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, it couldn't have been a more heart-wrenching finale for a prosperous Thunder season.

"I'm definitely going to remember it... It's hard to tell what you remember more, the wins or the losses, but this definitely stings. Doesn't feel great so, it's definitely a driving force to not want to feel this feeling again."
Chet Holmgren

Holmgren's humility and maturity has been profound in his debut season in the NBA. Time and time again, we've seen those with this mentality sprout to be exponentially great players -- and though he's had his rough stretches, recognizing and addressing those are what turns good players into great ones.

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