OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder survived disaster with a 129-125 overtime win over the Utah Jazz. Once up by 20 points, it took the reigning MVP dragging his squad to the finish line to get the much-needed victory.

“We called a timeout. We went down eight. It was like 105-97, I think. It was five and change to go. At that point, at home, with the way we’ve played the last couple of games, that becomes a very hard game to win. Just mentally. It takes a ton of mental toughness,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “I just thought the guys really competed. Pulled together. Got huge plays from everybody. Dub and Chet played the last 17 minutes straight. Shai was brilliant down the stretch.”

Early on, it felt like the Thunder had their mojo back. Kenrich Williams brought some bully-ball style as he ripped the ball away from Lauri Markkanen in the post. They had a 31-22 lead after the first quarter. The second unit continued the momentum. They started the second frame with a 16-5 run to build up a 47-27 lead in the early stages.

It felt like the Thunder were on a cusp of a classic OKC blowout. Something that’s been their signature over their last two seasons’ worth of NBA dominance. Instead, the Jazz slowly got back into it. Markkanen had it easy against the undersized Thunder. George continues to break out as a dynamic scorer.

The Thunder scored 27 points in the second quarter. They entered halftime with a 58-53 lead. Ice-cold outside shooting and giving up handfuls of offensive rebounds left the door open for the Jazz to get back into this one.

Unfortunately for the Thunder, the second half continued a bad habit — looking pretty lifeless on both ends of the floor. The OKC crowd had zero reasons to root along. Eventually, Jusuf Nurkic made a layup to give Utah a 70-69 lead with a little over seven minutes left in the third frame. Once a 20-point lopsided affair, we had a brand new ballgame. Add that to the long list of reasons to be upset about the reigning NBA champion.

Both teams put up 33 points in the third quarter. The Thunder had a 91-86 lead. While they remain having the league’s best defense, the last couple of weeks have shown some slippage on that side of the floor. Add this game as the latest example, as Utah flirted with 90 points in three frames.

As the entire OKC crowd stared down the possibility of a blown 20-point lead to a bottom-five team, the Jazz had built a 105-97 lead with a little under six minutes left.

Down by eight points, the Thunder rotated the dial. In a now-or-never moment, they got back into it in the final moments. Stationed at the dunker spot, Holmgren received Williams’ pass. He converted an and-one layup. Suddenly, OKC was only down 107-104 with a little over four minutes left. A one-possession game at that juncture is all you could’ve hoped for.

After Walter Clayton Jr. pulled up from deep at the right-wing spot, he put the Thunder in a 112108 deficit with a minute left. Gilgeous-Alexander immediately answered with a driving layup. A stop later and Williams finally enjoyed some luck with his pull-up jumper as his midrange shot fell through.

Tied at 112 points with 28 seconds left, Markkanen looked like he hit the potential game-winner. Clayton Jr. couldn’t score the dagger, but the former All-Star player was right there to clean up the miss and lay it in. With three seconds left, the Thunder were down two points.

Getting a clean look against George, Gilgeous-Alexander double-pumped and hit the mid-range jumper. Overtime, here we go. A 23-point fourth quarter for the Thunder was just enough to avoid catastrophe. To start overtime, neither team created a serious distance on the scoreboard.

Tied at 122 points with 41 seconds left, Holmgren collected Gilgeous-Alexander’s missed shot on a spin move. He quickly slammed it down for the easy second-chance dunk. Svi Mykhailiuk missed a 3-point attempt on the other end. With only nine seconds left, all Utah could do was play the foul game.

Gilgeous-Alexander had the chance to get showered with ‘MVP’ chants a couple of times at the free-throw line. Deservingly so, too. He put up an MVP-esque performance to ensure that the Thunder wouldn’t drop three in a row for the first time in two seasons. As the final buzzer sounded, you could hear the entire arena collectively breathe a sigh of relief. The Thunder scored 15 points in the overtime period. He had nine by himself.