Surging Thunder offer inspiration
The win was not considered anything notable at the time. If anything, it was the sort of win the Rockets were expected to take.
They were playing one of the other teams presumed to be in the thick of a long rebuilding process or, at least, in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes this season. The Oklahoma City Thunder at the time had eight wins, just a few more than the Rockets, who were still climbing out of their brutal schedule to open the season.
The Rockets led by 27 on their way to a 118-105 victory Nov. 26, but it was not considered an aberration as much as one of those nights when a young, talented team gets it going against another young, talented team, with both at the stage of the process when they are prone to extremes.
As they met again Wednesday, the first of three games between the Rockets and Thunder in the two weeks before the All-Star break, Oklahoma City was the ascendant franchise, able to consider not the pursuit of another season of lottery luck but the chase of a play-in spot this season, long before expected.
The Thunder arrived in Houston off a Monday loss to the Warriors in which they succumbed to a late barrage of 3-pointers. Had they taken a win — they were within two points with 3 ½ minutes left — they would have held the same record as the reigning champions.
The Thunder began Wednesday a game behind the Pelicans and Jazz for the final play-in spot, just two games removed from the Mavs and Warriors for a place in the Western Conference’s top six.
The simplest explanation, or at least the beginning of the Thunder’s rise from Wemby hopeful to playoff contender, points to the start of their rebuild: the trade of Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers for five first-round picks, Danilo Gallinari and young guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Clippers could pay such a heavy price because getting George meant landing Kawhi Leonard as a free agent. But the Thunder got a backcourt scorer with star potential and the start of their draft pick stockpile that would be followed with a pair of Rockets picks and two potential swaps (one since unclaimed) in the exchange of Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul.
Gilgeous-Alexander has exceeded most expectations, averaging 30.9 points per game on 51 percent shooting in his fifth season. He ranks fifth in the NBA in scoring, and no one has been more relentless attacking the basket. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 24.1 drives per game and a league-high 16.5 points on drives.
He had averaged 12.1 points as a Clippers rookie, showing ample signs he would be a solid building block but little to indicate he would quickly move to just outside the 2022-23 MVP debate.
“They have a really good player,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said of the rise of the Thunder. “He could be a top-10 player in the league. Early, he helped them win some games to where their confidence got bigger and bigger and better and better. The way SGA plays, there’s a swagger that comes along with that not just from him but from the rest of the group.”
The Rockets have seen similar potential in Jalen Green, who was out Wednesday for a second straight game with a bruised right calf. He is averaging 21.7 points in his second season. In his second season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 19, though with better shooting percentages as he played next to Paul in the rebuilt OKC backcourt.
“He’s an exceptional player, a tough matchup,” Rockets forward Jae’Sean Tate said. “His pace of the game is unique, which makes him hard to defend.”
Gilgeous-Alexander started with a good feel for changing speeds and getting his own shot. That has continued to improve to where he has become a master at it.
Silas said that is something Green can continue to develop, adding, “What year is this for (GilgeousAlexander)? Year five. So you can develop and get stronger and find the areas of the game where you can really attack, and that’ll happen for Jalen for sure.”
Yet even if Gilgeous-Alexander’s rise as one of the league’s top scorers had been foreseen, Oklahoma City’s climb in the standings likely would not have been anticipated, at least before it cashed in all that draft capital, especially after Chet Holmgren, the second pick of the 2022 draft, was ruled out for the season following surgery to repair a Lisfranc injury in his right foot.
But the Thunder have surged for reasons that go well beyond Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring.
He certainly is a key to OKC’s ranking 18th in offensive rating, with a remarkable surge to third in January. But defensively, the NBA’s youngest roster has been strong all season, ranking eighth.
“If we’re going to be good, it’s not going to be because we just ride one player in pursuit of tonight’s win,” OKC coach Mark Daigneault told the media in Oklahoma City on Monday. “We have good players.”