The Thunder team, after two seasons of rottenness, before the start of this season, most fans thought that they would not be competitive and would continue to rot, but the Thunder's performance made people shine.
Although the ranking is not particularly high, and it does not play as competitive as Paul did in the Thunder's season, every time he faced a strong team, the Thunder always showed his hard work and vitality, and in the final stage of the season, the young Thunder saw the hope of making the playoffs.
Facing the Suns today, the Thunder once again showed the heritage and resilience of their team, and the Suns who played away from home in the game quickly established a double-digit advantage under Booker, and then although the Thunder had a chance to fight back, the Suns still had a 12-point advantage with a wave of 10-0 before halftime.
After swapping venues, the Thunder began to make a force, Alexander rushed to the inside to cause killing, Dortri suddenly made an outside shot, and the Thunder trailed by six points at the end of the third quarter. In the final quarter under the high-pressure defense of the Thunder, the Suns began to turn off, and the offensive end could only rely on Booker's piecemeal play to score points, and the Thunder took the opportunity to directly establish a double-digit advantage, and Booker once let the Suns see the hope of winning, but at the critical moment, Alexander and Dort's free throws were very solid, and finally the Thunder defeated the Suns 124-120 to win the fourth of the last 5 games.
Today's Thunder game, which can be said to be a microcosm of their season, was not optimistic before the game, and the score was big behind in the middle of the game, but in the end it achieved a surprising result. After winning this game, the Thunder's record this season reached 35-36, directly promoted to the 7th position in the West, ahead of the 11th Lakers has reached 1 win, only 0.5 wins behind the Warriors in front of him, 1 win behind the 6th Lone Ranger, if the recent form is maintained, the Thunder not only the play-offs, but even have the opportunity to reach the top six directly to the playoffs, before the start of the season, who would have thought that the Thunder and these young people could play in this situation.
Alexander is still the backbone of the Thunder today, shooting 12 of 24, scoring 40 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and Alexander came to the fifth season of his career, completely rose this season, not only became the absolute core of the Thunder, but also sent a kill at key moments of the game many times, and Alexander was also selected as an All-Star for the first time with his outstanding performance.
Alexander averaged 31.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game this season, and he is not only the offensive core of the team, but also his defensive contributions, which can be seen from his basic statistics of 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. And in the current small-ball era, Alexander is not the kind of guard who is obsessed with shooting three-pointers, his style of play is tough, dare to fight and fight, today's game with the Suns, he did not shoot three-pointers, most of the scoring came from impacting the inside.
From the fledgling in the Clippers period, to the younger brother next to Paul, Alexander who has experienced several seasons of baptism looks to have ushered in his own era, today under the leadership of Alexander, the Thunder other players also have a good play, Dort played the role of the team's second in command today, shooting 7 of 11 and scoring 20 points, this season's Dort, the data has declined compared to last season, but this is in the case of giving up a certain ball and shot, his efficiency is improved compared to last season, And Dort's big heart is a rare thing for young players, and his free throws in a crucial moment today helped the Thunder seal the win.
Keady showed himself an All-Star again today, shooting 7 of 13, with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and as a tall guard, the sophomore Keady has gained the trust of the Thunder this season. Averaging 16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game, after two seasons of tempering, although Keady's body is still relatively thin, his ability to fight has improved significantly, coupled with his excellent physical condition and superb ball intelligence, he has been regarded as one of the core of the future Thunder.
At present, the Thunder's roster is very complete, and unlike most young teams, the Thunder can still stand on defense this season while maintaining good offensive firepower, and their defensive efficiency can rank 9th in the league this season, and a team with good offense and defense can go further on a higher stage, and now the Thunder has such characteristics.
In addition to these identified future cores, there are many young talents in the Thunder team, such as Jaylen Williams and Jaylin Williams, the existence of these two makes the Thunder's flanks and risks look very full. Another characteristic of the current Thunder is unity, they are all young players, but there is no competition for power, as Alexander said, the current Thunder players are very young, no families, no children, can fully focus on the court.
With the team's rebuild looking almost complete, the Thunder still have a very bright future, and the highly anticipated Holmgren has been recovering from injury this season, and if he can play in the future, the Thunder's roster will become more three-dimensional. In terms of drafting, the Thunder still have a chance to draft more young talent over the next three years, and the Thunder have 10 first-round picks in the next three years, and if the Thunder are satisfied with the current roster, they can use these assets to tinker with the team. The Thunder may not be playing particularly well this season, but their future looks closer.