OKC Thunder Using Full Roster to Fight for Playoff Positioning

The Oklahoma City Thunder are fighting to stay above the water and sneak into the postseason.

They're are doing so by playing as a cohesive unit. Of course Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the leader of the group, but the team around him continues to help him and keep OKC in games even when he struggles, which hasn’t happened often.

At 37-38 on the season with seven games remaining, they sit in a tie for eighth with the Lakers. The Western Conference is tight to get into the postseason, and the Thunder will need to continue to get help from the whole roster to play past the 82nd game of the season.

The Thunder’s most recent game is the prime example of the Thunder’s ability to play as a team and not as individual players. The Thunder defeated the Trail Blazers on Sunday in an effort speared by their typical stars both starting and off of the bench.

OKC saw five players take 12 or more field goal attempts. Of those players, four scored 17 or more points, including three with over 20. Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with a 31-point outing, for what was his 42nd 30-point game of the season.

Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey and Isaiah Joe helped lead the Thunder offense to 118 points in the tight game in Portland. The Thunder don’t rank highly in assists per game in the whole league, but did have 23 as a team on Sunday and continues to see plenty of shared scoring abilities throughout their games.

Of the 10 players to record minutes for OKC on Sunday, nine of them knocked down at least two field goals, with Aaron Wiggins being the only OKC player to not score in his eight minutes of playing time.

Giddey, Williams and Lu Dort are all averaging more than 13 points per game. Joe has also been a crucial contributor to the Thunder, especially from behind the 3-point line.

The Thunder have the chance to continue to advance the rebuild way ahead of schedule, but the entire team will have to continue to contribute.

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