OKC Thunder Beats Utah Jazz by 23 Points With Balanced Offense

The Oklahoma City Thunder rebounded from its largest loss of the season by beating the Utah Jazz 130-107 Friday night. Oklahoma City dished out a season-high 38 assists, with six players picking up four or more.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Thunder scorers with 21 on 7-for-16 shooting, as five of his teammates also reached double-digits. He added eight assists, three blocks, two rebounds and a steal.

Chet Holmgren recorded 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting, seven rebounds, three blocks and an assist. Jalen Williams tallied 18 points on 14 shots, including four 3-pointers, as well as nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace combined for 37 points with seven triples, 12 assists and 11 rebounds off the bench. Five Thunder reserves made multiple 3-pointers.

Statistic	Thunder	Jazz
Points	130	107
2-Pointers	27-for-54	26-for-49
3-Pointers	19-for-43	15-for-41
Free Throws	19-for-20	10-for-18
Turnovers	12	19
Offensive Rebounds	17	14

The Thunder started Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein and Luguentz Dort.

The Jazz started Isaiah Collier, Jordan Clarkson, Lauri Markkanen, John Collins and Walker Kessler.

Holmgren won the opening tip and immediately splashed a side-step corner 3-pointer. Gilgeous-Alexander drained a baseline pull-up before Collins put Utah on the board with a catch-and-shoot corner triple. The Jazz forward converted two more jumpers in the first five minutes, but four Thunder starters recorded points to hand Oklahoma City an early advantage.

Midway through the quarter, Kessler and Markkanen grabbed three offensive rebounds on the same possession — but the home team did not score. The Thunder scored seven straight points, including a Dort transition dunk and Alex Caruso catch-and-shoot three, which increased their lead to nine. Markkanen threw down a putback slam with four minutes remaining to end that streak.

Cody Williams threw in an and-one floater and Keyonte George swished a transition 3-pointer to bring the Jazz within single digits, as it scored eight of the quarter's final 10 points. Oklahoma City still held a 29-22 advantage after 12 minutes.

George made an and-one floater over Joe on the second quarter's initial possession, but Joe responded with a running layup past Kyle Filipowski. Collins received an interior make and drew four free throws on the next three possessions, as the Jazz put significant pressure on Oklahoma City's defense.

Jalen Williams made two straight triples before drawing the first Thunder free throws of the night four minutes into the second quarter. Joe and Hartenstein blew a 3-on-0 fast break containing three misses, as Collier took advantage with a tough finish over Jalen Williams, but Joe nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to increase the Oklahoma City lead to 12 points.

Gilgeous-Alexander made a top-of-the-key triple with 4:33 left in the quarter, beginning a 15-2 Thunder run. He blocked a Clarkson floater and drew coast-to-coast free throws against George, making another pull-up jumper 30 seconds later. Collins caught an acrobatic alley-oop layup to end the All-Star's individual spurt.

All five Oklahoma City starters scored in the last two and a half minutes: Gilgeous-Alexander executed a steal-and-slam, Holmgren made a running layup, Hartenstein swished a floater, Dort made a cutting layup and Jalen Williams bottomed a mid-range jumper. The Thunder led 68-47 at halftime.

Hartenstein and Holmgren slammed putback dunks right out of the break. Collins continued his stellar scoring night with four interior makes on five possessions, including an alley-oop from Collier's 10th assist, to force an Oklahoma City timeout.

Markkanen banked in a top-of-the-key 3-pointer for his second made field goal, bringing the Jazz within 18 points midway through the period — Utah shot 14-for-21 overall and 6-for-9 from downtown during the third quarter. Both teams combined for nine straight scores from 5:21 to 3:21, starting with a Caruso layup and ending with two Gilgeous-Alexander free throws. The Thunder led 99-84 with one quarter to go.

Collins hammered an explosive driving dunk over a contesting Hartenstein four minutes into the fourth quarter, but Joe countered with his third 3-pointer of the night.

The Thunder travels to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves this Sunday, Feb. 23 at 8:30 p.m. CST. The teams will play a rematch in Oklahoma City the following day at 7 p.m. CST.

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