Isaiah Joe Continues Career Year With Dynamic Performance Versus Warriors

When it comes to stepping up in place of injured teammates, no player on the Oklahoma City Thunder has done a better job than Isaiah Joe. He continued his career-year in the Thunder's 104-97 win over the Golden State Warriors Saturday night, being one of three OKC players to reach double figures in the contest.

Joe started and played 35 minutes in the game, being heavily aggressive from the very beginning of it. The Arkansas product scored 18 points and added four rebounds and three assists to his box score.

Despite shooting just 2-for-7 from long range, Joe got fouled on three-point attempts twice, knocking down the trio of free throws both occurrences. He was the Thunder's second-leading scorer behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 27 points in the team's shorthanded win.

With seven Thunder players listed as "out" on the injury report, this outburst couldn't have come at a better time.

Joe started the game on fire, racking up eight points in the first quarter of action. He was a perfect 2-for-2 from the floor, hit a three-pointer and knocked down three attempts at the charity stripe. This type of play has just become normal for the sixth-year guard.

In Joe's career year, he is averaging 11 points and 2.6 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game, shooting 44% from the floor and 41.1% from distance. In fact, since the beginning of February, Joe has been averaging 14.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, shooting a blistering 43.9% from the three-point stripe.

The marksman has been on fire in the home stretch of the NBA season, putting him in a great position to continue this output come playoff time. During the NBA championship run a season ago, Joe struggled to find minutes and consistency once OKC got past the first round; his play has made him invaluable this season, averaging career-highs in both points and rebounds per game.

When asked about his play, specifically his shooting, Gilgeous-Alexander raved on how unsurprising Joe's elite shooting has been during this stretch.

“The guy can flat-out shoot it with the best of them. I’m not surprised by any of it," said Gilgeous-Alexander. "He didn’t start the year as hot as he is now, so I knew it’d be evened out. I’m not surprised at all.”

When the Thunder's injury issues start to settle down, Joe's elite play has made it impossible for him to lose too many minutes when some of the team's star players return to action.