At long last, new-look OKC gets a signature win
Danilo Gallinari caught the pass inst ride and lifted for the shot. A few seconds later, Chris Paul was jumping into his chest. It was Paul who fed Gallinari on the game's most crucial shot Friday night against Philadelphia, a 3- pointer that extended
OKC's overtime lead to six with 2:22 to go.
The Thunder was nearly perfect in the extra five minutes, from Terrance Ferguson's opening 3-pointer, to Gallinari's 3- pointer, to back-to-back Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pull-up swishes.
Well- earned confetti fell from the rafters as the Thunder beat the 76ers 127-119 for its signature win of the season.
Five days after forcing the Milwaukee Bucks to sweat out a 2- point victory at Chesapeake Energy Arena, the Thunder (5-7) went toe to toe with the 76ers.
Back-to-back nail-bit er home games against the two Eastern Conference heavyweights taught Thunder coach
Billy Donovan something about his team.
“We kept staying with it, we kept staying with it,” Donovan said. “It's easy to break from your identity when things aren't going well … I think our guys stayed convicted. There were a lot of things that we had to do well to put ourselves in position to win.”
The matchups Friday night weren't built for a Thunder win.
Paul spent the fourth quarter and overtime guarding Tobias Harris, who's eight inches taller than Paul.
Nearly every time Joel Embiid shuffled to the scorers' table, Donovan's counter punch was predictable. He summoned Steven Adams from the end of the Thunder bench.
Adams was OKC's only viable option to guard Embiid, Philadelphia's 7-foot and 250pound mega-sized star. Still, Embiid finished with 31 points but needed 24 shots to do so.
Philadelphia's starting lineup featured four players — Embiid,
Harris, Ben Simmons, and Al Horford — who are at least 6-foot-8.
“Listen, they're a really hard team,” Donovan said after the game. “They're gonna post up four of their five starters. We knew that we were gonna have to get down in there and help.”
The Thunder was relentless against the biggest team in the league. Harris and Simmons both fouled out. OKC shot 35-of-41 from the foul line compared to a 15-of-22 mark from Philadelphia.
Paul was 12-of-12 from the free-throw line and carried the Thunder through the fourth quarter and overtime. He finished with 27 points.
Ferguson, in a game OKC desperately needed his defense, poured in a season-high 19 points. He shot 5-of-7 from three.
Four of OKC's five starters scored at least 19 points.
“They'll be games when we break through,” Donovan said.
Friday night offered the best example.