OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City Thunder pulled away late in their 119-103 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Both teams entered with short-handed rosters as half of their respective rosters sit on the injury report.

“We moved the scoreboard down there down the stretch. Credit Memphis, they kept playing because we had a pretty good lead there we could’ve held,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “We let them scrap back into the game with just a little bit of a lack of execution on both ends. To the credit of the team, we were able to get it back on the road pretty quickly.”

Early on, the Grizzlies showed they weren’t going to get walked all over. They had a 10-3 lead to start the contest. That surprised the Thunder as they needed a moment to collect themselves. Eventually, they got things going. They held a 31-28 lead after the first quarter.

The second quarter started much of the same. Both teams were within a couple of possessions of each other. Until the Thunder went on a 16-4 run to create some elbow room. Kenrich Williams stole Memphis’ inbound pass and fed it to Jalen Williams for the transition jam as OKC went up 59-47 with a little over three minutes left in the frame.

The Thunder had a strong finish as they scored 36 points in the second frame. They entered halftime with a 67-54 lead over the Grizzlies. A pretty decent margin considering how slow things were at the start.

After the break, the offense went back to a freezing halt. Through the first five minutes of the third frame, the Thunder only had three points. Luckily enough, the Grizzlies were equally bad. Neither team could buy a bucket as some bad basketball unfolded that had folks returning from the concourse feeling zero FOMO.

Eventually, Williams’ loud dunk woke up a sleepy OKC crowd. The Thunder scored 17 points in the third frame. They had an 84-73 lead. It felt like, as long as they kept pace, the Grizzlies simply didn’t have the scoring talent to catch up on the scoreboard.

In the early stages, everything was rocking. Ajay Mitchell drove to the basket for the layup. The Thunder had a 90-73 lead less than two minutes into the final frame. On the cusp of a blowout, the Grizzlies quickly got back into it with unreal shot-making from the outside.

Kentavious Caldwell- Pope couldn’t miss from the outside. Other Memphis role players hit some timely outside jumpers. The Grizzlies were able to get it down to a 101-97 game with a little over five minutes left. On the verge of crunch time, the Thunder went on a 14-2 run to shut the door.

Gilgeous-Alexander hit on MVP-esque jumpers to bury the Grizzlies. Williams joined in on the fun. Obviously, the Grizzlies had zero counterparts on their end to match bucket for bucket. That four-minute sequence turned this from a potential upset alert to another game where the OKC starters clocked out earlier than scheduled. The Thunder scored 35 points in the final frame.

The Thunder shot 49% from the field and went 15-of-39 (38.5%) from 3. They shot 12-of-14 on free throws. They had 20 assists on 46 baskets. Six Thunder players scored double-digit points. Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 31 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Williams had 24 points and six rebounds. Mitchell finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Lu Dort scored 13 points. Williams had 11 points and six rebounds off the bench. Carlson also had 11 points.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies shot 41% from the field and went 18-of-41 (43.9%) from 3. They shot 17-of-23 on free throws. They had 26 assists on 34 baskets. Six Grizzlies players scored double-digit points.

Jaren Jackson Jr. was quiet with 11 points and three rebounds. Cedric Coward had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Caldwell-Pope scored 16 points on 5-of-6 from 3. Cam Spencer had 14 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Jaylen Wells tallied 12 points and four rebounds. Jock Landale totaled an 11-point and 10-rebound double-double.

It took longer than expected, but the Thunder took care of business against a makeshift Grizzlies. Gilgeous-Alexander continues to prove he’s a one-man win machine with any combination of teammates. As long as he’s out there, OKC should be favored. Memphis put up a good fight, but a lack of a go-to scorer showed up at the end.

Not the entertaining game, but they all can’t be. The Thunder return to their winning ways and remain undefeated at home. This was a good way to start this grueling home-road backto- back before they face off against the San Antonio Spurs twice in the next three days.

“When you have guys out like that, you have a different mix of players. You need the guys very quickly to calibrate to that and provide something different that they might not provide,” Daigneault said. “It puts you in different spots on the floor the way that it did for him tonight. I thought the whole team did a great job of that.”

The Thunder will face off again against the Spurs on Thursday, on Christmas day at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

The game is set to start at 1:30 p.m. and can be viewed on ABC and ESPN.

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