It is OVER for the League...

This team is special as the Oklahoma City Thunder are turning some heads after they had a good little, I don't want to say comeback victory against the Atlanta Hawks, as it was a neck and neck game until about the fourth quarter. Then finally in the fourth quarter, something turned around for the Oklahoma City Thunder that really gave them that extra push, that little edge to get over this little hump they had this little slump going on, and actually look like the team we've been waiting to see Ever since the season has started, as the preseason gave us a nice little prelude into what could be going on with the Thunder. We looked solid. We looked unbeatable when our starters were out there on the court, when Hartenstein was healthy. It looked like no team could compete with us. Shea was knocking down three-pointers. Dubb was knocking down three-pointers. Everyone was hitting three-point shots. But then, season started. We were without Hartenstein, still without J. Will, still without Kenny Hustle. All right. Dubb was going through that ankle injury. He looks fine now, but that first game you could tell it was definitely bothering him a little bit. And the three-point shooting in general from the entirety of the team wasn't looking good. And then finally, the fourth quarter of this Atlanta Hawks game came around and the Thunder looked practically unbeatable. It's been the team we've been waiting to see for quite a bit now. And so it's a good sign to see. It is a fantastic sign to see if you are a Thunder fan. You're part of the Thunder community here. As of now, this team is truly looking unbeatable. And you've got to keep in mind. We're 3-0, all right, with a win difference, a win margin by, like, 60-plus at the moment, I believe. All right, we're playing pretty, pretty well. This is without Hartenstein or J-Will or Kenny Hustle, without any backup center. So the fact we're doing this without all of them is very impressive. But more importantly, we're going to go into why I think this team is looking complete and why it's really scary, like, going into the box score. Kind of a game reaction from last night. A little bit behind. We've been super busy here at Thunder Digest. But before we get into all that, though, we want to take a quick moment and say, if you guys don't want to miss a single minute of the action, regarding the Oklahoma City Thunder, I want to stay up to date with everything going on with the team. And you want someone that can give you kind of, you know, decent in-depth analysis, you know, kind of keep it chill here with the vibes and everything. Thunder Digest is the place for you. So go ahead, hit that subscribe button, hit that bell notification with that out of the way. We can go ahead and get into talking about the game. Last night, and it was really impressive, all right? First half, it was slow. The officiating was definitely, you know, kind of questionable. Could have been better, all right? Not the greatest in the world. However, we can't use that as an excuse, and we didn't, and we came back and won this game by double-digit points. Look at the box scores first, all right? Here's the Atlanta Hawks, okay? Okay, uh... Trey Young, I don't want to say he had an off night. He shot 50% from the field. But there is some stats that we're going to look into later. He finished with 24 points, 10 turnovers, minus 16 in the plus minus there. He did have, I think that reads six assists and one rebound. Went two of seven from the field. But he went, he had eight free throws. Went eight for eight from the free throw line. They're all in the first half, by the way. He didn't go to the line a single time in the second half. Zach. Zaccharie Risacher, I believe how it's pronounced. He went six of 12. He had a decent night. Decent night. It's just defensively, meh, could have been better. He could have been better than everyone else. So he just kind of shut down the Hawks. Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson. I mean, looking at that, they have no offensive bags whatsoever. And we shut them down even more. Their bench was kind of, meh, it's kind of decent. All right. Roddy going 4-5 off the bench. Not bad, not bad, just defensively. They don't have any defense over there in Atlanta. They really don't. They have no good defensive play at all. As they finished with four blocks and seven steals. So it's not good at all. This Matthews dude, I absolutely hate. He was dirty the entire night. He was just, he was talking like he was some sort of superstar. And when he really isn't, he's a bench player. He's a scrub on a minimum league contract. I don't want to like use that term lightly. But it's the fact he kept on celebrating against us. All right. Like, you're on a veteran minimum contract, I'm pretty sure. Like, don't be acting like this. Keaton Wallace, Cason Wallace's brother, older brother, he got three minutes of action that night. Didn't get, oh, he did get two points, two free throws there. All right, one rebound, and that's it. But I'd love to see him getting some action. I will appreciate all the Thunder guys' family and everything when they do get time. Former Thunder player, Vit, went two of seven from the field with five points. But as you can see, y'all. We just shut down Atlanta. We did not let them really have a good shooting night at all. 32% from down the three-point line, which is kind of, it's meh. Below average would be my assumption. And then below 40% from the field, definitely below average. No doubt about that in my mind. So the fact that we held them to like these percentages, nice to see. The whole point of the game was kind of stopping Trey Young. It was hard to do so in the first half, but Come the second half, we were definitely doing that. We were face guarding him the entire night with either Lou, Cason, or Alex Caruso, and it was looking like it was working. Now, going into our box score, our stats, all right? Once again, you're going to see the trio absolutely balled out. Chet with 25, 9, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 6 blocks. That's impressive with only 3 turnovers. Love to see that. He went 8 of 12 from the field, 3 of 5 from beyond the 3-point line, so finally the 3-point shot is going. He went 6 of 8 from the free-throw line. I had to lean in and make sure I was reading that right. Great performance by Chet Holmgren, all right? He might make a case for most improved player if he keeps doing this in All-NBA. J-Dub started looking solid again that night. He had 20 points, 8 of 17 from the field. Took him a while to actually start shooting 3-point attempts. He only took 3 this game, went 4 of 8 from the line, which is kind of scary. He finished with 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals. Uh No turnovers either. Which I didn't notice until just now. But their plus minuses are nice as well. Chet with a plus 19. Dub with a plus 14. And then we go into the MVP of the league this season. Shea Gilgis-Alexander. Just went below 50% from the field. 11 of 24. 3 of 8, I believe. Yep, 3 of 8 from 3. three 10 of 11 from the free throw line. 11 boards and 1 assist away from the triple-double. Finished the night with 3 steals and 3 blocks. And plus 24 in the plus minus there. The stock market is high in OKC. All right. Looking at that just between Chet and Shay. All right. What's that? 6 plus 6, 12. 12 stocks last night in the win against Atlanta. The stock market's high, all right? If you're in OKC and you want to invest in the stock market with the Thunder, go ahead and do it right now as it is booming. Aaron Wiggins got the start, which I kind of like. He did decent, not bad at all. I wish he would have shot a little bit more. It's just overall, he was just kind of there. He was playing defense well, shooting the ball well three or four from the field. Just wish he would have done a little bit more. Lou Dort. It was the X factor in this game. 5-7 from the field. 4-5 from behind the three-point line. Finished with 16 points. Didn't get a steal or block. But, however, his presence defensively, face guarding Trey Young majority of the night for helping him, you know, being a main factor and enforcing 10 turnovers on him. Just elite defense from him all around the entire night. Then we go to the bench. Guys that played a little bit. Alex Caruso, 21 minutes to play. He went 1-3 from the field. Three steals and two blocks. Defensively, he's doing exactly what we need him to do. We just need him to play some defense. And then hopefully, occasionally, his shot starts falling. Everyone's shot just hasn't really been falling to start the year. Isaiah Joe, he played a little bit disappointing as well. I wasn't really totally impressed. But we still came with a win. Cason Wallace, I was impressed. Wish he shot the ball a little bit more. But defensively, he was locking down Trey Young as well. AJ Mitchell was doing fine. He didn't get a single bucket, but he was being a great facilitator during the night, playing good defense overall, looking solid. Ousmane Dieng, even though he only got eight minutes of play, I have been thoroughly impressed with Ousmane Dieng, and I am petitioning for him to get some more minutes. Now, I'm officially getting back on the Dieng train, getting back on the Dieng hype train, and I'm petitioning for him to get some more minutes, okay? I want to see minutes of Usman Jang besides Chet Holmgren while we're still without J. Will and Isaiah Hartenstein and see how that goes and see how much he really has progressed as a player these past two seasons. My boy Adam Flagler got some minutes there. Dylan Jones got some minutes. Alex Reese, Alex Dukas got some minutes as well. So guys, we played everyone last night. And as a team, finally shooting well, 50% from the field, 40% from behind the three-point line, 75% from the line. Overall, we're starting to shoot the ball a lot better. 25 steals and blocks. Once again, like I mentioned, the stock market is high. The fact that Chet and Shai had 12 of those stocks, of those 25 stocks, is insane to me. But most importantly, like I mentioned, the defense is scary. This defense is scary good. All right? Yes, we gave up 104 points to the Hawks. Granted, you know, going back to their stat line here a little bit, 29 free throws. That will do it a little bit. They shot a ton of free throws in the first half. They did. All right? But the fact that we held Trae Young to the double-double with 24 points and 10 turnovers is absurd to me. We let him get the double-double that night, 24 points and 10 turnovers. You could also say he got the triple-double with the minus 16. Box score plus minus there. You can go ahead and say that as well. But this defense is looking scary good. The offense is starting to finally click a little bit. I'm expecting it to pick up on both ends once Isaiah Hartenstein is back as well. And it's going to be scary. And the league needs to pay attention a little bit. Because this could be the best team in NBA history. No doubt about that in my mind. But that's all I got for this video. Let me know what you guys personally think of the team's performances so far have been for the Thunder. That's all I got for this video. I'll see you guys in the next one.