Thunder Snap Losing Streak in Big Win over Jazz

On a night where the Paycom Center was filled with past Thunder legends to celebrate, the team gave fans more to celebrate with a blowout win over Utah.

The Thunder stopped their longest skid of the season, beating the Jazz 130-103.

Oklahoma City entered the game on the heels of a five game losing streak and winless since the All-Star Break. The Thunder exited the All-Star Break in 10th place in the Western Conference. The Thunder have now fallen to 13th and out of the play-in game on the heels of the losing streak.

On Friday night that streak ended. Without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the fourth-straight game, the Thunder were able to snap the spell and gain ground on the 10th seed.

The Thunder’s defense has been struggling at times during the losing stretch, but on Friday was a key factor in their victory.

In OKC’s first game back from the All-Star Break the Thunder gave up 43 points to the Jazz’ Lauri Markkanen, but on Friday he scored just 20 points.

The Thunder offense has found other players to score points while SGA has been absent, and in the first quarter the offense set the tone of the game out scoring the Jazz 34-29.

OKC extended their lead in the second quarter again finding a variety of players to fill in the offense.

The Jazz kept the OKC lead from growing in the third quarter, but a hot start to the fourth for the Thunder cemented the outcome of the game.

With Kenrich Williams out leaving minutes off the bench wide open Aaron Wiggins earned more time on the court, and he made the chance count.

He scored 27 points in 26 minutes to lead the team. In total six different Thunder players scored in double figures with five of those being with more than 17 points.

Thunder fans also got to see Ousmane Dieng back in action after a stint in the G League. He scored nine points, mostly in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma City is now two-and-a-half games back from the Jazz. The Thunder are back in action Sunday against Utah in OKC.

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