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'We've made a lot of progress': Josh Giddey & Thunder closing the gap on Jazz, but Utah holds off OKC
Joe Mussatto
Oklahoman
Josh Giddey drove down an empty lane and rose for an easy two-handed dunk.
The Thunder rookie has flashed all sorts of offensive skills this season, but the dunk Wednesday night against the Jazz was the first of Giddey's young NBA career.
It was reminiscent of his Summer League slam in Las Vegas.
Giddey again initiated the offense with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right ankle sprain) out in the Thunder's 110-104 seesaw loss to the Jazz.
"We were right there with them," Giddey said.
It was a significant improvement from the Thunder's first game against the Jazz — a 107-86 loss in the season opener.
"There was a lot of cleanup after that first Utah game," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "A month and a half later or whatever, we've made a lot of progress. I thought tonight was evidence of that."
There were 11 ties and 28 lead changes on Thanksgiving Eve at Paycom Center.
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The dunk wasn't Giddey's only highlight.
He knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer before halftime — releasing it more like a floater than a jump shot.
Giddey scored eight of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Giddey finished a fastbreak to cut Utah's lead to 99-98 with 3:25 left.
He drained a 3-pointer to tie the game 101-101 with 2:30 left.
Giddey knocked down another three to cut the Jazz's lead to 107-104 with 20 seconds left, but the Jazz held on.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert had 15 points and 17 rebounds. Jordan Clarkson led the Jazz in scoring with 20 points off the bench.
"Those late-game situations, we're gonna learn over time how to close them out better, but it was good," Giddey said. "Guys competed hard tonight. We played the right way."
Giddey is shouldering a significantly heavier load with Gilgeous-Alexander out, and the results could hardly be better from the 19-year-old Aussie.
He flirts with a triple-double almost every game. Wednesday he had eight assists and seven rebounds to go with his 19 points.
Daigneault said there's a chance Gilgeous-Alexander plays Friday night against the Wizards, but Daigneault wasn't optimistic.
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SGA being sidelined gives the Thunder a chance to learn more about Giddey, who's back in his natural point guard role.
"(Josh) was a point guard growing up, and obviously we drafted him knowing that we had the position filled in the lineup," Daigneault said. "Betting on those two guys' character, and their intelligence and their ability to kind of coexist and help each other thrive."
Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander are still feeling out that partnership.
"Obviously Shai's only gonna be out for a small period of time, so I'm gonna have to keep learning how to play off the ball more," Giddey said. "Hopefully me and Shai play together for a long, long time. It's something we're both gonna have to work together with — handling the ball and playing off it as well.
"It's obviously fun to have the ball late in games and making plays, but also realizing when you're playing alongside a superstar like that you're gonna have to be ready to make catch-and-shoot shots and space the floor and let him do his thing."
With Giddey running the show, maybe he'll have another dunk.
"I'm 6-8," said Giddey, shaking his head. "I should be dunking a lot more."
Luguentz Dort was surprised to hear it was Giddey's first dunk. Dort might have seen it coming, though. Dort said Giddey set a personal-best vertical leap before the game in the weight room.
Here are four more takeaways from the game:
'He's not afraid of that at all': Josh Giddey takes reins of Thunder offense with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out
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Aaron Wiggins starts
Rookie second-rounder Aaron Wiggins logged his first-career start Wednesday night.
Daigneault called it a "spot start," adding that Wiggins will likely be sent to the G League Blue again at some point.
The Thunder clearly sees something in Wiggins, and they want to see more of it.
He had a quiet night in his 26 minutes. Wiggins missed his only shot attempt. He had three rebounds and one assist.
Wiggins was handed a tough assignment, primarily guarding Clarkson and Mike Conley, who had 18 points.
With Wiggins and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, the Thunder started two rookie second-rounders against the championship-caliber Jazz.
"It's not about what number you're picked or where you go in the draft," Robinson-Earl said. "It's just about putting yourself in a position to compete and show you can be out there."
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JRE for three
Robinson-Earl was a 30% 3-point shooter in his two seasons at Villanova.
The rookie center shot 3-of-4 from 3-point range against the Jazz, and he's now 22-of-56 (39%) for the season.
Maybe it's fool's gold given the small sample, or maybe Robinson-Earl has found something with his stroke.
Either way, it has to be a welcomed sight for the Thunder given that the 3-point shot wasn't a big part of JRE's game at Villanova.
Even Jay Wright has to be wondering what's up.
Robinson-Earl had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
"It's a lot of fun out there," Robinson-Earl said. "That's like my dream, being out there playing against the best players, the best teams, just competing at the highest level with my brothers out there."
Maledon responds
Theo Maledon was off the grid in the G League, but the Thunder recalled him before the game Wednesday night and Maledon checked in early.
He made some things happen offensively, including a strong finish over fellow Frenchmen Rudy Gobert in the third quarter.
Maledon had six points and two rebounds in 14 minutes.
"I thought he did a nice job," Daigneault said. "I thought he came out and played with the same kind of flow and aggressiveness that he showed in those (G League) games."
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Dort's all-around game
Dort led the Thunder in scoring all while shutting down Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz's best scorer.
Dort was spectacular on both ends. The former two-way player is certainly living up to a different meaning of that label.
Dort scored 27 points on 5-of-12 3-point shooting, and he limited Mitchell to 13 points on 6-of-16 shooting.
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