OKC Thunder Dissect Zone Defense With Season-High 38 Assists

The Oklahoma City Thunder had not played together for over a week but still accumulated a season-high 38 assists in a 130-107 win over the Utah Jazz Friday night. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein all tallied four or more dimes.

Oklahoma City had not reached 38 assists since last year's 49-point season finale victory against the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder previously dished out 37 against the Brooklyn Nets on Jan. 19 and the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 1 — two games it won by 60 combined points.

Rampant ball movement was necessary on a night the Jazz committed to playing zone defense, meant to clog driving lanes and hamper the Thunder's perimeter advantage creation — both areas Gilgeous-Alexander excels in. He finished with 21 points, his fewest since Nov. 4, 2024, against the Orlando Magic, but Oklahoma City still had a 123.2 offensive rating in his 32 minutes.

Gilgeous-Alexander admitted that teams employing zone defenses has "worked some," as it is "not our greatest strength." Still, the Thunder executed encouraging offense repeatedly against Utah.

"To work on it in a regular season game, on a Friday night, you don't get it often," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I think we got better tonight at it, and it'll help us down the line."

Gilgeous-Alexander drained a semi-transition baseline jumper on Oklahoma City's second possession of the game, the first of just eight unassisted baskets the team produced. He made a driving jumper and a steal-and-slam sequence on back-to-back possessions late in the second quarter. The All-Star guard also converted a tough step-back over Lauri Markkanen to put the Thunder up 118-97 with 5:22 remaining.

The other four: Immediate second-chance shots. Chet Holmgren tipped in his missed alley-oop four minutes into the game and slammed two putback dunks later. Minutes after the second half started, Isaiah Hartenstein rebounded an air-balled Jalen Williams floater for a dunk of his own. Holmgren said he did not expect to see frequent zone defense coming out of the All-Star break.

"Teams are going to throw different looks at us and try to throw us off our rhythm," Holmgren said. "It's just key that we stick to what we do, and I feel we did a good job of that tonight."

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault thought his team handled Utah's defense well, in addition to having a lot to build on. It was the first time this season Oklahoma City had Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Holmgren, Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort, Wallace and Caruso all healthy.

"It's obviously something teams go to in general, but certainly against us, we see a top-five amount of zone in the league almost every year," Daigneault said. "To be able to have 90 or 100 possessions tonight where we had to attack it — some things we can learn from, some really good attacks — was a really good experience."

The Thunder takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. CST. The teams will play in Oklahoma City the following night at 7 p.m. CST.

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