Undermanned OKC secures tenth win of the season against New Orleans

A short-handed OKC Thunder squad earned its tenth win of the season, defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 106-88 at the Paycom Center.

OKC’s top two healthy players, Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, led the way in scoring in the first half. Williams finished with 15 and Gilgeous-Alexander with 13, both in a fairly efficient manner. Off the bench, Aaron Wiggins scored eight points in the first half.

A pull-up triple from Williams and a reverse layup from Pelicans forward Javonte Green ended the first half with the score 54-50 in favor of the Thunder. Both teams entered the match severely undermanned and missing key players in multiple positions.

Primarily for the Pelicans, they relied on the depth of the bench to score. Despite the injuries, star forward Brandon Ingram was around to handle most of the scoring duties. He finished with 18 on 7-for-18 shooting that night, a big reason for the game’s closeness in the first half and parts of the third quarter.

OKC may have had two of the three stars at its disposal, but the lack of size remained an issue on the rebounding and defensive front. The Thunder allowed 58 rebounds to the Pelicans compared to 31, which seems to be a common theme in the absence of star big man Chet Holmgren. OKC is forced to play small and as a result they sacrifice rebounds on offense and defense.

Gilgeous-Alexander, with the help of Wiggins and Williams, pushed the Thunder to an 82-68 lead to start the fourth quarter. Early in the fourth, Williams added a few more buckets to bury the Pelicans and put the game out of reach midway through the final quarter.

Normally, OKC would empty its bench with a big win. Unfortunately for the selection, they did not have the staff for that. Still in the game with 5:23 to play, Williams finished off a lob from guard Cason Wallace. Williams finished with 31 on the night and added six rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Apparently, Williams did it all for the Thunder in his tenth win of the season.

Gilgeous-Alexander did his job as well, recording 29 points on 12-for-25 shooting, adding five rebounds and five assists.

Arguably the most impressive OKC stat of the night came from rookie guard Ajay Mitchell coming off the bench. Mitchell posted a plus-18 plus-minus, adding just six points to his stat line. The second-round rookie remains surprisingly impressive for OKC, especially in a crowded waiting room.

The Thunder improved to 10-2 on the season with the win over New Orleans and will look for an 11th-place match against the Phoenix Suns on Friday, November 15 at 7:00 PM CT.

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