The Oklahoma City Thunder looked to bounce back from their sixth loss of the season against Cleveland and secured a 126-121 victory over the New York Knicks.

It was clear from the start that the Thunder were determined to continue their winning streak. OKC didn’t give New York many chances in the first three quarters of the game, especially in the first half.

An unlikely contributor on the bench contributed to the important win. That was Thunder sharpshooter Isaiah Joe. He finished the game with 31 points, including 23 in the first half. This was by far his best effort of the season and was desperately needed to break out of his brutal shooting slump. Joe also finished with the team’s best plus-minus rating at plus-31 and shot 8 of 11 from the perimeter.

Overall, Oklahoma City got off to a good start. The team was efficient and did everything right on offense against a challenging New York defense and took a 70-43 lead at the end of the first half. The Knicks shot just 31.8% from the field and 13.3% from the three-point line. On the other hand, OKC had a shooting percentage of 60% from the field and 66.7% from the three-point line. That difference was enough to give the Thunder a huge lead.

For a Thunder team that has struggled in the outfield this season, OKC’s field performance exceeded the usual average of 35.1%. As a team not known for shooting well from outside, Oklahoma City used the perimeter efficiently, a feat they haven’t accomplished often this season.

It’s worth noting that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams also performed well. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 39 points on 15-for-21 shooting and Williams scored 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting.

The Knicks needed a hot start to the second half and quickly scored 13 points. OKC followed with a run of their own to make up for it. Unfortunately for New York, there was nothing they could do to shut down Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder. Gilgeous-Alexander increased his scoring output to 39 by the end of the third quarter, and the Knicks defense simply couldn’t do anything about it.

Despite the difference in score, the Knicks managed to force more turnovers than OKC. The Thunder finished with 15 turnovers and the Knicks had 10. This is a staple of the Knicks that has been a key factor in winning basketball this season.

A lot went wrong for the Knicks and OKC’s defense was impressive, but such poor shooting from the field makes it difficult to win against any team in the NBA. Star guard Jalen Brunson shot 7-for-15 from the field and forward Karl-Anthony Towns shot 9-for-16. OG Anunoby’s 2-for-8 shooting performance didn’t help this tough team scoring night, nor did Mikal Bridges’ 0-for-9 night.

The fourth quarter was the same as the rest of the game for both teams. New York never trailed by less than 20 points and the Thunder continued to score from all areas of the court. Joe struck

Oklahoma City follows up its stunning win over the Knicks with a road game against the Washington Wizards on Sunday, January 12 at 5:00 p.m. ET.

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