Top Performers From Oklahoma City's Third Straight Victory

It took a total team effort for the Thunder to down New Orleans as more guys have stepped up to help Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have gone streaming’s.

Wednesday night’s 108-100 win over the New Orleans Pelicans was the third straight victory for the Thunder, moving the team to 4-6 on the year.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was his usual self helping lead the charge for Oklahoma City, but the Thunder wouldn’t have been able to hold off the Pelicans without contributions from three other key guys.

Mark Daigneault has continued to do a great job bringing OKC’s young core along, and his efforts were on full display on Wednesday night.

Lu Dort

Gilgeous-Alexander helped extend the Thunder lead with a great run to close the third quarter, but Lu Dort’s contributions to start and finish the game proved to be the difference for OKC.

The former undrafted free agent scored 10 points in the first quarter, setting the tone in Oklahoma City’s 11-3 run to start the game, and then he showed up again big down the stretch to bury the Pelicans’ dreams of a massive fourth quarter comeback with an empathic dunk to put OKC back up eight points with 16.8 seconds left on the clock.

Dort finished the night as the leading scorer for the Thunder, scoring 27 points on an incredibly efficient 8-of-13 shooting night. Though he only shot 2-of-7 from 3-point range, Dort was nearly unstoppable when he opted to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim, and the Pelicans sent him to the free throw line 10 times as a result.

He’s quickly become the offensive scoring threat Oklahoma City always dreamed of out of their token defensive stopper in the starting lineup, and he will raise the ceiling of the Thunder when they eventually flip the switch from the rebuild to a team that seriously hopes to make a run in the playoffs.

Mike Muscala

Though he only played 13 minutes off the bench, Mike Muscala’s 3-point shooting helped the Thunder extend their lead to as many as 21 points across the second and third quarters.

The reserve big knocked down all three of his shots from behind the arc. Muscala’s been a constant from deep all year long for OKC, hitting 40.7 percent of his 3-point attempts this season to go along with his leadership off the court.

Muscala’s plus-minus ended up being a team leading plus-17, as he scored 12 points to go along with a good defensive display anchoring the second unit defense.

It’s unlikely he’d be effective handed a massive share of minutes every single night, but Muscala continues to prove to be a valuable asset for Daigneault off the bench.

Josh Giddey

The Australian guard didn’t have his best shooting night in New Orleans, but it didn’t stop him from nearly chiseling his name into NBA record books.

Josh Giddey finished the night with seven points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, just shy of his first career triple-double.

Wednesday night wasn’t the first time this year he’s been on triple-double watch, and it will be far from the last. But when Giddey does get over that hump this season, he’ll be the youngest player in league history to record a triple-double.

Giddey didn’t just pad empty stats against the Pelicans, though. His passing not only sets up easy buckets for his teammates, but his ability to move the ball in general has opened the floor up for Dort and Darius Bazley go to work, and it’s bringing the best out of both of them.

While he hasn’t received the national recognition he deserves for his play so far, Giddey will soon be on the entire NBA’s radar if the Thunder continue to exceed expectations and win. 

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