OKLAHOMA CITY — Refusing to allow Jeremiah Fears break one of basketball’s unwritten rules with a free layup, Lu Dort swiped the ball away at the final buzzer. After being shoved by the 19-year-old, the one-time NBA champion grabbed him by the jersey. Both teams got at it in a mini scuffle.

While the aftermath was chaotic, the Oklahoma City Thunder rode the momentum they badly needed in a 104-95 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. They avoid dropping three in a row — something that hasn’t happened in two seasons.

“I just thought the execution of the game plan was good throughout the game. I mean, offensively, it wasn’t a fastball, but the defense sustained throughout the course of the night,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “We did a great job of personnel recognition, knowing who their best shooters are, who the guy can play off of a little bit. Williamson is a huge emphasis against them. I thought we had him in the crowd. He had to earn his points. So, I thought overall, defensively, just a gritty, great effort on that on the floor.”

To start, it was much of the same for the Thunder. With half their roster out, the offence has dipped to below freezing levels. It took nearly five minutes before they scored their first bucket as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander threw a great skip pass to Aaron Wiggins for the corner 3-pointer.

Their only saving grace was that the Pelicans were equally incompetent at putting the ball through the hoop. The Thunder held a 17-14 lead after the first quarter. Yep, you read that score right. Eventually, we returned to modern-day basketball. Gilgeous-Alexander darted the ball toward Isaiah Joe for a 3-pointer. The Thunder finally found a groove on offense. They scored 31 points in the second frame. At halftime, they held a low-scoring 48-46 lead over the Pelicans. Not bad considering the flurry of misses, but the second half needed to be better.

And that’s what happened. Chet Holmgren returned to being a highend scorer. Jaylin Williams fed him an alley-oop. That boosted his confidence. He eventually drained a midrange jumper to put OKC up 59-52 with eight minutes left in the frame. The Thunder replicated things with 31 points in the third quarter.

The Thunder held a 79-69 lead through three quarters. With Gilgeous-Alexander still on the floor, they went on a 9-2 run to open the final frame. That gave them a game-high 17-point lead at that juncture. The rest of the night turned into OKC stiff-arming New Orleans away on the scoreboard.

Fears’ outside bucket made it a five-point game with five minutes to go, but Dort and Wiggins hit bigtime back-to-back 3-pointers to balloon their lead to 98-87 with a little over three minutes left. That about did it in terms of the actual basketball being played. The Thunder scored 25 points in the final frame.

Now, in terms of extracurricular activities, you saw a couple of instances that kept most folks tuned into the TV. The first was between Williams and Saddiq Bey. Both went face-to-face before handed double-technical fouls. The former smiled at the latter’s face when the immediate possession resulted in a foul between the two.

That likely instigated what eventually happened at the end of the game. Dort and Fears went at it. Both teams cleared their benches. The former Sooner had to be dragged off the floor and into the tunnel. Considering how demoralizing things were in OKC’s last two games, this was a much-needed boost of adrenaline.

The Thunder shot 40% from the field and went 13-of-38 (34.2%) from 3. They shot 21-of-23 on free throws. They had 25 assists on 35 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points. Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with a high volume 29 points and four assists. Holmgren had a 20-point and 14-rebound double-double. Dort had 12 points and eight rebounds. Joe scored 17 points. Wiggins tallied 13 points and five rebounds.

Meanwhile, the Pelicans shot 34% from the field and went 10-of-40 (25%) from 3. They shot 17-of-22 on free throws. They had 25 assists on 34 baskets. Three Pelicans players scored double-digit points. Zion Williamson had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Bey finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Trey Murphy III was quiet with 10 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Playing with the zombie version of their championship roster, the Thunder did just enough on the offensive end to get a relatively stress-free win for the first time in what feels like forever. At this point, it was all about getting a win by any means necessary. You hope that reinforcements can arrive sooner rather than later as the competition levels up.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren carried enough of OKC’s offense to take advantage of their leaguebest defense beating up on a messy offense that had zero flow to it. Not every win is going to be a Mona Lisa. And considering how ugly things have gotten recently, you take victory when you can get it.

“Our process wasn’t as clean. We just had to kinda gut out a win with defense, possession game, and like I said, the offensive rebounds,” Daigneault said. “So, it was hard to catch a rhythm for much of the night. We had a couple of good plays, but it was just on that we had to kinda crawl through the mud to win the game.”

Next up for the Thunder Is an away game at Minnesota tonight at 7:30 p.m.

The game will be televised through Prime Video.

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