Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Monster Performance Not Enough, Thunder Tuned by Jazz

The Oklahoma City Thunder made a valiant comeback effort on Sunday, but they ultimately fell short against the Jazz.

There’s a big man crisis in Bricktown.

Leading into Sunday’s matchup, the Oklahoma City Thunder were expected to roll out a red-hot Isaiah Roby at the starting five. Due to a late scratch, those aspirations were canned. Instead, Darius Bazley stood toe-to-toe with Rudy Gobert for the jump ball in his first gig at the five.

The height discrepancy showed – falling to the Utah Jazz 116-103.

With the loss, the Thunder now stand at 20-44 on the year, good for fourth in reverse standings.

Utah played right into Oklahoma City’s hand to open the game, opting against taking the ball inside. The issue – they couldn’t miss – opening the game 6-of-8 from deep and leading 23-11 seven minutes in.

Utah took a surprising approach in the sunrise stages of play. Instead of packing the paint, Quin Snyder’s group took to the three. It paid major dividends. In the first frame, the Jazz started 6-of-8 from downtown, led by a trio of Royce O’Neale threes, to take a swift 23-11 lead.

Through one frame, Utah strummed up a mere two points in the paint, striking a 33-24 advantage.

The Thunder struggled mightily to start the second, missing eight consecutive shots to open play. On the return, Utah tapped inside to rally a 13-0 run, and a 22-point margin. Oklahoma City made a solid stretch of plays, highlighted by a Lindy Waters III chasedown block, but Utah’s run proved to be too much. At the halftime horn, the Thunder trailed 61-45.

Three-point shots drove the first 24 minutes as Utah shot a sweltering 14-of-25 (56.0%) from deep while the Thunder, who were looking to space the floor early, shot a paltry 3-of-19 (15.8%) outside.

The opening moments of the third quarter shed a glimmer of hope in Oklahoma City’s direction as Utah struggled from deep. The Thunder rallied back amidst the dry spell to cut the game to 11, but a late surge from the Jazz extended the deficit back into the twenties.

Oklahoma City forced Utah into high alert midway into the fourth as a Theo Maledon triple swung a 7-0 Thunder run, and cut the game to single digits. However, the Jazz’s starters put the lid on a comeback.

Utah stuck to the three-point line on Sunday, concluding the night on a 23-of-52 palate. With the wide array of baskets, Bojan Bogdanovic set a franchise-high 11 threes en route to 35 points while Donovan Mitchell added 24 points.

The Jazz were outscored 54-28 in the paint.

Oklahoma City attempted to neutralize their lack of size early, attempting to utilize Bazley as a stretch five to lure in Utah bigs. However, with a 15.8% three-point clip by halftime – the decision to clog the lane was a fairly easy one. In all, the Thunder mustered out a 20% output (8-of-40) on threes, marking their fourth-worst effort of the year.

Despite the congestion around the cup, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander riddled out yet another top-tier performance. In the 23-year-old’s run, he generated 20 first-half points, all coming inside while capping the evening with 33 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists. He’s yet to be frazzled post-injury, as he’s averaged 33.3 points since return.

On short notice, Darius Bazley held a tough task at the center spot. Bazley had his moments attacking the basket, but a marred 1-of-7 spurt from three limited his offensive abilities. In all, the 21-year-old ended with 11 points and five rebounds.

Olivier Sarr absorbed a much heavier frontcourt role in Roby’s absence. In his 20 minutes, he came inches shy of his first double-double. Sarr’s end stat line saw him post 11 points and nine rebounds. The Frenchman impressed as he added five of his boards on the offensive end, snuck inside for a pair of jams, and riddled down a corner three.

The seven-game double-digit streak for Tre Mann took a close Sunday, finishing the night with six points on a 2-of-13 shot chart.

The Thunder will take a day of rest before facing the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday in a back-to-back opener.

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