OKC Thunder Stick to Winning Formula in Opening Night Victory

The Oklahoma City Thunder embrace the team's "0-0" mindset, so much so that "0-0" was printed on the group's 2025 NBA Championship rings.

After Tuesday night's contest, though, OKC is 1-0, earning a hard-fought win against a strong Rockets team. Despite Alperen Sengun turning in one of his best performances since entering the NBA, the Thunder survivied Houston even with Jalen Williams out of the starting lineup.

Oklahoma City's win looked eerily similar to a handful of contests throughout the 2025 postseason, as the team struggled to hit shots early on.

Throughout the game, the Thunder weren't able to consistently knock down 3-point attempts, but a few timely makes from Chet Holmgren and a late-game takeover by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander propelled OKC to a win.

Alongside impressive scoring performances from both of the aforementioned players, a remarkable defensive effort by Oklahoma City was another key to the Thunder securing a one-point win in double overtime.

Mark Daigneault's group turned the ball over 11 times, and forced 22 Rockets' turnovers, including 12 steals. The plays OKC made on defense turned into easy fastbreak points for the Thunder, as the group outscored Houston by 21 points in transition.

That proved to be the difference for Oklahoma City, as players like Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso and Lu Dort's defensive playmaking kept the Thunder within arms reach even when the team wasn't able to find any luck on offense.

Wallace was specifically disruptive, constantly making life difficult for the Rockets on the perimeter. The third-year guard was credited with four steals, but made a handful of additional big plays on defense.

Cason Wallace 14-7-5-4 (5/10 FG), +8 pic.twitter.com/dmwY5mksrA
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) October 22, 2025

Oklahoma City's contest against the Rockets wasn't the first time the Thunder have had to rely on their defense to come out with a win. Throughout the 2025 postseason, OKC struggled from beyond the arc, and needed a number of impressive perfromances from its defense and Gilgeous-Alexander to come away with a title.

Obviously, the Thunder were good enough on defense to still take down the Pacers and Nuggets, among others, but similar problems showed up for OKC on Tuesday as the group shot 25% from beyond the arc.

To compound those issues, sharpshooter Isaiah Joe and All-NBA wing Jalen Williams were sidelined with injuries on opening night. When Joe and Williams, as well as Nikola Topic and Kenrich Williams, are back on the court, Oklahoma City's offense could look much smoother.

Still, the group has proved once again it can win against solid teams even on an off shooting night.

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