Through three weeks of action, the Oklahoma City Thunder are 11-3. The Thunder suffered their only loss of the week on Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder took care of business with victories over the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans Pelicans, and over the Phoenix Suns. The Thunder are currently second in the West — behind Golden State.
The Thunder are dealing with a significant amount of injuries. With injuries to Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams, Alex Caruso, and most recently Isaiah Joe. The Thunder’s depth and margin for error is becoming thinner by the week. Despite being derailed by injuries and having no true big at the moment, the Thunder are leading the league in DRTG (102.8), opponent field goal percentage (41.9%), forced turnovers (19.6), and steals (12.1). The Thunder are second in points allowed (103.5), blocks (7.1), and NET Ranking +11.9.
Here’s my Week 4 — Thunder Player of the Week:
OKC Player of the Week
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the short-handed and small Thunder to a 3-1 record in Week 4 with averages of 34.5 points, 6.5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2.2 steals, and 1.7 blocks while shooting 54.4 percent from the floor, 43.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 90.9 percent from the free throw line.
SGA started off the week very strong, as he was vintage “SGA” from an efficiency standpoint in all areas of the game, stuffing the stat sheet and setting a career-high — scoring 45 points, dishing out 9 assists, recording 5 steals, grabbing 3 rebounds, and getting 2 blocks, on 13-of-21 shooting from the floor, 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, and 15-0f-16 from the free throw line in a win against his former team in the Los Angeles Clippers.
SHAI CAREER-HIGH 45 PTS 🔥🔥@shaiglalex (45p, 9a, 5s) becomes the first player in OKC history with 45+ PTS and 5+ STL in a game! pic.twitter.com/h2lVYh1RAp
— NBA (@NBA) November 12, 2024
SGA would follow up his career-high performance with a “typical SGA” game in their second game and second win of the week — against the New Orleans Pelicans. In 33 minutes of action, SGA finished with 29 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, on 12-of-25 shooting from the floor, 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, and 2-0f-3 from the free throw line.
In their third game of week and first NBA Cup game, SGA continued his strong play, finishing with 28 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block, on 11-of-25 shooting from the floor, 2-of-7 from beyond the arc, and 4-0f-4 from the free throw line, in 33 minutes of action, in a win over the Phoenix Suns.
To end the week, SGA finished his strong week of play, with 36 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, on 13-of-19 shooting from the floor, 1-for-1 from beyond the arc, and 9-0f-11 from the free throw line, in 38 minutes of action, in their only loss of the week to the Dallas Mavericks.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Raising His Play
Dunk on one end, block on the other 😤
Take a look at the back to back work on both ends pic.twitter.com/X8iVGA52rL
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 18, 2024
Ultimately, how far the Thunder goes depends on the play of their star player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA needs to play at an MVP level with Holmgren out because Holmgren’s absence significantly reduces the Thunder’s offensive and defensive output, which means, SGA will need to handle a larger workload.
During the first 10 games of the season, SGA was below his standards, as he averaged 26.1 points and 3 turnovers per game on 48/26/88 shooting splits.
However; since Holmgren’s injury, SGA has elevated his level of play — averaging 34.5 points, 6.5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2.2 steals, 1.7 blocks, and only 1.5 turnovers per game, while shooting 54.4 percent from the floor, 43.4 percent from beyond the arc, 90.9 percent from the free throw line, and having a plus-minus of +55.
While the Thunder are dealing with a multitude of injuries, losing Holmgren is a massive blow for the Thunder. Without Holmgren’s rim protection and offensive versatility, and also not having one healthy true big at the moment, SGA’s performance will directly dictate OKC’s ability to win games. SGA will have to continue to play at an MVP level to stay afloat until the Thunder gets back healthy.
Takeaways:
Through four weeks of action, the Thunder have a record of 11-3. As the Thunder deal with the early season ‘injury bug’, OKC had a successful week — finishing Week 4 at (3-1). Even with the Thunder dealing with a significant amount of injuries and having no healthy true big at the moment. The Thunder are second in the West at 11-3 and second in NET Ranking of +11.9.
Wins: vs Los Angeles Clippers (134 to 128), vs New Orleans (106 to 88), and vs Phoenix (99 to 83)
Loss: vs Dallas (119 to 121)
Note: Alex Caruso missed the last three games with a right hip strain. Isaiah Joe left Sunday’s game against Dallas with a contusion. Did not return. However, it was Thunder’s head coach Mark Daigneault decision to not bring him in.
As the Thunder tries to stay afloat and navigate through the early season ‘injury bug’. The main concern for this roster currently is getting healthy.
Main Image: © Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
