On the morning of January 4, the NBA regular season focus battle was held, and the Hawks played the Thunder at home. At present, the Thunder has become a powerhouse in the West, with a wave of 5 consecutive wins to establish a high ranking of No. 2 in the West. Yesterday, the Thunder upset the Eastern leader Celtics, and many of the main players played well. Playing back-to-back, the physical test is a major one.
After the start of the first quarter, the Thunder's weakness was still relatively obvious, and they suffered an unfavorable start of 0-11. Saddiq Bey hit a three-pointer and Alexander missed a three-pointer. Murray dodged the defense and hit a solid jumper. Dort broke through with the ball and continued to hit the iron. Capela scored on a dunk and Jalen Johnson scored on a throw. Holmgren also missed the offense, and Trae Young scored on a jumper to make it 11-0! Jalen Williams hit a 2-pointer and missed the free throw. Dort returned the ball in the corner, and Alexander received the ball and hit a three-point shot. Although the Thunder has the tendency to counterattack, it is difficult to resist the opponent's crazy attack. The Eagles played a sharp and efficient first quarter to end the first quarter with a 39-25 lead.
Jalen Johnson cashed in on his talent, tried and tested the ball, and was in the limelight. At halftime, the Hawks continued to widen their advantage, 76-59!
In the third quarter, the two teams played a battle against each other, and neither team put too much into defense. The three main Eagles scored 20+, and the team scored 40-44 in a single quarter, and the advantage was still not small. With the Thunder trailing by as many as 13 points, is there still a chance to turn the tables?
More than half of the time in the last quarter, the effect of Thunder chasing points is average, and the difficulty of turning the tables increases. But in the final two minutes, Jalen Williams hit a 3-pointer from the bottom corner to narrow it down to 10 points. Jalen Johnson hit a 2-pointer without defense. Alexander hit a three-pointer from a big step back to chase nine points. The Thunder then made a steal, and Alexander accelerated to a layup to score directly, with a seven-point gap and 80 seconds left. Murray missed a three-pointer and Alexander flew to the basket to score and forced a timeout with 43 seconds left.
Alexander seized his chance and continued to score. Bogda misses a three-pointer, with 3.2 seconds left, and the Thunder take a timeout, is there still a chance to tie? 138-141! In the end, the Thunder were upset, and the 5-game winning streak came to an end. Trae Young had 24 points and 11 assists, and Bogda had 23 points off the bench and was 5-of-11 from three-point range. Johnson scored 28 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Alexander had 33 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, and Jalen Williams had 21 points, six assists and five steals.