Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Leads Shorthanded OKC Thunder to Clutch Win Against Pistons

Despite missing three of its four leading scorers, the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled out a 113-107 win over the Detroit Pistons Saturday night. Oklahoma City has now beaten all 30 NBA teams this season.

The Thunder led by four points entering clutch time. Malik Beasley, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tim Hardaway Jr. swished 3-pointers in quick succession. Gilgeous-Alexander then converted a difficult mid-range jumper and driving layup before finding Cason Wallace for a right-wing triple.

Dennis Schroder registered his fourth three of the night to bring the Pistons within four points, but Isaiah Hartenstein blocked Ausar Thompson's layup attempt with 51 seconds left. Oklahoma City secured back-to-back offensive rebounds to keep its following possession alive, as Alex Caruso made an inbounds pass to Hartenstein for an uncontested dunk.

Gilgeous-Alexander racked up 48 points on 17-for-26 shooting, six assists, four rebounds, three steals and a block. The Thunder won his 38 minutes by 18 points.

Wallace tallied 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting, five rebounds and three steals. Hartenstein recorded 12 points, 10 rebounds (four offensive), five assists, three blocks and two steals.

With 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham was ejected after picking up consecutive technical fouls. He finished with 11 points on 5-for-18 shooting, nine assists and seven rebounds in 29 minutes.

Statistic	Thunder	Pistons
Points	113	107
2-Pointers	33-for-55	28-for-55
3-Pointers	10-for-34	14-for-33
Free Throws	17-for-22	9-for-13
Turnovers	17	17
Offensive Rebounds	10	6

The Thunder started Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort, Cason Wallace and Kenrich Williams. Oklahoma City played without Jalen Williams (right hip strain), Chet Holmgren (rest) and Aaron Wiggins (illness).

Ousmane Dieng exited with a left calf strain in the second quarter, while Dort suffered a groin injury in the third quarter's final minute. Both players did not return.

The Pistons started Cade Cunningham, Tim Hardaway Jr., Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris and Jalen Duren.

Wallace and Gilgeous-Alexander came out firing, scoring the Thunder's first 16 points on perfect shooting before Detroit took a timeout. Wallace swished a corner three and punctuated a fast-break dunk, while Gilgeous-Alexander knocked down a second-chance top-of-the-key triple and weaved his way through Pistons defenders for two layups.

Cunningham scored or assisted on every Detroit point during his nine-minute first-quarter stint. The fourth-year guard started the night with a pull-up jumper and found Duren from the baseline for an explosive dunk. He converted an and-one floater past a swiping Hartenstein midway through the frame for his seventh point.

Gilgeous-Alexander provided a steal-and-slam and assisted a Dort 3-pointer with five minutes left — Oklahoma City's last field goals as the Pistons closed the first quarter on an 11-1 run. Malik Beasley and Dennis Schroder each made threes off the bench, while Harris dunked an uncontested opportunity and splashed a triple with one second remaining. The Thunder led 24-23 after the opening frame.

Detroit racked up nine points in just over two minutes to start the second quarter while Oklahoma City remained docile. Beasley knocked down his second 3-pointer from rookie Ron Holland II, who made a transition layup a possession later to force a Thunder timeout less than 60 seconds into the period. Simone Fontecchio converted a slow-step layup minutes later to put the Pistons up 36-26.

Fontecchio tapped Wallace's layup attempt off the rim — ensuring the Thunder its first made field goal in eight minutes. Isaiah Joe then drilled a 3-pointer off an Alex Caruso flare screen to bring Oklahoma City within two possessions. Detroit made back-to-back threes midway through the quarter, part of an 8-for-16 first half.

Gilgeous-Alexander checked back in five minutes before halftime and with the Thunder trailing by nine points — he registered 11 unassisted points on seven shots to help propel Oklahoma City to a 55-54 lead at the break.

The second half's start time was delayed by about 15 minutes because of a misaligned basket, but Gilgeous-Alexander's hot shooting translated to his third-quarter minutes. He drained a step-back triple to start the frame and scored or assisted on four straight Thunder possessions from 9:35 to 8:11. Gilgeous-Alexander reached 30 points on a technical free throw five minutes into the quarter.

Oklahoma City closed the frame with four successful free throws on one possession and two difficult 3-pointers from Joe and Gilgeous-Alexander. It led 91-77 after three quarters.

The Thunder battles the Bucks in Milwaukee tomorrow at 8 p.m. CST.

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