Oklahoma City's Backcourt Shines in Madison Square Garden Matchup

The Thunder's original core powered the team in a shootout against the Knicks.
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Oklahoma City had its best offensive showing of the season on Sunday, and one that will certainly be hard to top again this season.

The Thunder knocked off the Knicks in New York 145-135 behind a blistering 62.5% from the floor and 54.8% from behind the 3-point line. Oklahoma City’s ball movement was a thing of beauty, as everyone seemed to be looking for the extra pass.

Sunday was one of the better examples of an all-around team effort in Oklahoma City. For the second game in a row, the entire team seemed involved and multiple players stepped in to help out the stars. Sunday it was the same.

Here are the top performers from the win in New York:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Sunday was another master class performance from SGA. The Thunder’s star is commanding the league’s attention with big game after big game.

Gilgeous-Alexander poured in 37 points on 13-of-22 shooting and 2-of-3 from downtown. At the end of the game, he drew so much attention from the defense that it allowed Oklahoma City easy looks at the rim. It was another big game on the defensive end as well for the guard, adding three steals and two blocks.

Josh Giddey

Something about Madison Square Garden and Josh Giddey. The Thunder guard has now played two games in the historic New York arena, and triple doubled each time.

Sunday, Giddey tallied 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. It was easily his best game of the season so far. In addition to the scoring output, Giddey also added 12 assists and 10 rebounds with just three total turnovers. It was one of the first nights this season where both Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander seemed to be firing on all cylinders during the same game.

Lu Dort

In addition to Sunday being Giddey’s best game of the season, it was also Lu Dort’s best game of the season as well. Oklahoma City’s defensive-minded guard seems to be overcoming his early season shooting stretch after his big contract extension over the offseason.

On Sunday, Dort added 24 points and three rebounds on an impressive 8-of-11 shooting and 2-of-5 from 3-point range. He had multiple crucial and-ones at the rim too finish the game too.

It was a picture perfect afternoon for Oklahoma City’s core, as all three original members took home Top Performers honors from Sunday.


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Ross Lovelace
ROSS LOVELACE

Ross is a 2023 Oklahoma University graduate who has formerly written for the OU Daily and Prep Hoops. He now works for the New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee and covers OU sports for AllSooners.com. He has been covering the Thunder since the 2019-20 season.