The Thunder Takes a Bite out of the Big Apple

The Thunder won their 11th road game in 12 tries on Friday, beating the Knicks 126-103. Oklahoma City had five players in double figures lead by Danilo Gallinari (former Knick), who went 7/13, scoring 22 points.

The Knicks were never a threat. New York led by five early in the first quarter, but from the 8:04 mark in the opening frame, it was all Oklahoma City. Shai Gilgeous-Alexader is tied for tenth on the ESPN 25 under 25.

Full control. @StateFarm Assist of the Night. pic.twitter.com/45RZ4nAF3e
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 7, 2020

On Friday, Gilgeous-Alexander made his case to be ranked in the top five. Gilgeous-Alexander was an efficient 6/10 with 18 points. For as good as he was shooting, his most impressive play came with 7:09 left in the third quarter when he ripped the ball out of Julius Randle's hands, that steal started a fast break which ended with a Gallinari 27 foot jumper giving the Thunder an 80-60 lead.

The Thunder only committed three turnovers, while scoring 11 points off of 12 Knicks turnovers. The Knicks who wanted to take the ball inside were forced to shoot 24 threes and only made four. Oklahoma City, on the other hand, connected on 12 out of 31 from beyond the arc.

😤 Hami, don't hurt 'em. 😤@hamidoudiallo | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/8EiUxmwQkQ
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 7, 2020

It wasn't 48 minutes of domination as the score would suggest the Thunder were sloppy out of the gate but made up for it in the third quarter by outscoring New York 34-30 and opening up a lead that the Knicks could not overcome.

Thunder Strikes:

New York native Hamidou Diallo, came off the bench to score 12 points going 5/8 from the field and hitting his first three since January 17th when the Thunder lost to the Heat.

Oklahoma City is one game behind Houston and Utah for the fourth/fifth seed in the western conference.

That was Hamidou Diallo's first made 3 since Jan. 17 vs. Miami
— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) March 7, 2020

Up Next:

The Thunder will be in Boston on Sunday to wrap up their season series with the Celtics. Tipoff is at 5 pm on NBATV.

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