Game ID: 22400473
New York Knicks @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Friday, January 3, 2025 at 8:00 PM ET
Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
OKC 33 21 26 37 117NYK 30 36 22 19 107
NYK @ OKC ScoutingNYK @ OKC Scouting
Welcome to the scouting desk. The coffee is cold, the film is play-by-play, and somebody has to explain what happened.
Every game has a hinge — a stretch where it was decided, usually while everyone was watching something else. Start where the evidence lives: the Lineups' face-offs say which five actually won their minutes; the Possessions ledger says who ran ahead of the night's own pace; the Shot Chart says where the points really came from, which is rarely where the highlights were. When all three agree, that is the story. When they don't — that is why this desk has a chair.
OKC availability going into 12/28 · 1 day's restOUT Holmgren missed 19 since 11/11, out tonight
NEW Hartenstein 26 to 32 min over the last 5
OKC availability going into 12/29 · back-to-backOUT Holmgren missed 20 since 11/11, out tonight
OUT Caruso missed 2 since 12/26, out tonight
OKC availability going into 12/31 · 1 day's restOUT Holmgren missed 21 since 11/11, out tonight
OUT Caruso missed 3 since 12/26, out tonight
NEW Mitchell 14 to 21 min over the last 5
OKC availability going into 1/02 · 1 day's restOUT Holmgren missed 22 since 11/11, out tonight
OUT Caruso missed 4 since 12/26, out tonight
NEW Mitchell 14 to 22 min over the last 5
OKC availability going into 1/03 · back-to-backOUT Holmgren missed 23 since 11/11, out tonight
OUT Caruso missed 5 since 12/26, out tonight
NEW Mitchell 14 to 22 min over the last 5
OKC availability going into 1/05 · 1 day's restOUT Holmgren missed 24 since 11/11, out tonight
OUT Caruso missed 6 since 12/26, out tonight
NEW Mitchell 14 to 22 min over the last 5
OKC availability going into 1/08 · 2 days' restOUT Holmgren missed 25 since 11/11, out tonight
OUT Caruso missed 7 since 12/26, out tonight
NEW Mitchell 14 to 19 min over the last 4
OKC availability going into 1/10 · 1 day's restOUT Holmgren missed 26 since 11/11, out tonight
OUT Caruso missed 8 since 12/26, out tonight
OUT Mitchell missed 2 since 1/05, out tonight
OKC availability going into 1/12 · 1 day's restOUT Holmgren missed 27 since 11/11, out tonight
OUT Caruso missed 9 since 12/26, out tonight
OUT Mitchell missed 3 since 1/05, out tonight
NYK availability going into 12/27 · 1 day's rest
full strength
NYK availability going into 12/28 · back-to-back
full strength
NYK availability going into 12/30 · 1 day's restNEW Bridges 37 to 44 min over the last 5
NYK availability going into 1/01 · 1 day's rest
full strength
NYK availability going into 1/03 · 1 day's restNEW Bridges 37 to 43 min over the last 5
NYK availability going into 1/04 · back-to-backOUT McBride missed 2 since 1/01, out tonight
OUT Sims missed 2 since 1/01, returns tonight: 2 min (15% of 11)
NYK availability going into 1/06 · 1 day's restOUT McBride missed 3 since 1/01, out tonight
BACK Sims back 1/04 after 2, 2 min since (15% of 11)
NYK availability going into 1/08 · 1 day's restOUT McBride missed 4 since 1/01, out tonight
BACK Sims back 1/04 after 2, 16 min since (144% of 11)
NEW Hart 37 to 43 min over the last 5
NYK availability going into 1/10 · 1 day's restOUT McBride missed 5 since 1/01, returns tonight: 20 min (84% of 24)
BACK Sims back 1/04 after 2, 12 min since (108% of 11)
I Know — the desk, before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
OKC comes in 5-0 over its last five, scoring 117 a night and allowing 103, shooting 48 percent and 33 from three, 19 free throws a game; Gilgeous-Alexander at 34 and Jal. Williams at 17 a game. That is 5 straight wins. It has lost the glass by 5 a night. Without Holmgren (23 straight), Caruso (5 straight). Second night of a back-to-back. New York comes in 5-0 over its last five, scoring 121 a night and allowing 108, shooting 50 percent and 32 from three, 25 free throws a game; Brunson at 30 and Towns at 26 a game. That is 5 straight wins. It has won the glass by 4 a night. One day's rest.
So: OKC wins, and the game turns on the glass, where New York has been plus-4 a night and OKC minus-5 and the line, where New York takes 25 free throws a game to OKC's 19. Call it OKC 113, New York 111, New York keeping it close.
12/28 @ CHA 106-94 — OKC notes
OKC won 106-94. OKC shot 48% (42 of 88) to CHA's 36%, 10 of 38 from three, and got to the line 14 times to CHA's 28. Gilgeous-Alexander led with 22 (8 of 15, 1 of 6 from three, 5 of 6 at the line); Jal. Williams added 20, Wiggins 17. The hinge was Q2, 33-24: a lead of 6 became 15, and the lead reached 20. Wiggins was the night's best plus/minus at +18.
12/29 vs MEM 130-106 — OKC notes
OKC won 130-106. OKC shot 50% (52 of 103) to MEM's 38%, 14 of 44 from three, and got to the line 12 times to MEM's 21. OKC turned it over 10 times to MEM's 21. Gilgeous-Alexander led with 35 (14 of 19, 1 of 5 from three, 6 of 6 at the line); Mitchell added 17, Wiggins 16. The hinge was Q2, 42-19: a lead of 3 became 26, and the lead reached 31. Gilgeous-Alexander was the night's best plus/minus at +27.
12/31 vs MIN 113-105 — OKC notes
OKC won 113-105. OKC shot 47% (42 of 89) to MIN's 49%, 12 of 36 from three, and went to the line 23 times to MIN's 12 — 17 points from the stripe to their 12. OKC turned it over 9 times to MIN's 23. Gilgeous-Alexander led with 40 (15 of 23, 3 of 5 from three, 7 of 9 at the line); Hartenstein added 15, Jal. Williams 14. The hinge was Q3, 43-23: OKC came in trailing by 6 and left it ahead by 14. OKC trailed 46-52 at the half and won the second half 67-53. Joe was the night's best plus/minus at +20.
1/02 vs LAC 116-98 — OKC notes
OKC won 116-98. OKC shot 50% (43 of 86) to LAC's 47%, 14 of 38 from three. OKC turned it over 9 times to LAC's 19. The glass went 35-45 against them. Gilgeous-Alexander led with 29 (9 of 17, 2 of 5 from three, 9 of 9 at the line); Jal. Williams added 18, Mitchell 11. The hinge was Q3, 42-20: OKC came in trailing by 4 and left it ahead by 18, and the lead reached 28. OKC trailed 48-52 at the half and won the second half 68-46. Jal. Williams was the night's best plus/minus at +33.
1/03 vs NYK 117-107 — OKC notes
OKC won 117-107. OKC shot 51% (43 of 84) to NYK's 48%, 14 of 27 from three. Gilgeous-Alexander led with 33 (12 of 26, 2 of 3 from three, 7 of 7 at the line); Jal. Williams added 20, Wiggins 19. The hinge was Q4, 37-19: OKC came in trailing by 8 and left it ahead by 10. OKC trailed 54-66 at the half and won the second half 63-41. Wallace was the night's best plus/minus at +14.
1/05 vs BOS — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
OKC comes in 5-0 over its last five, scoring 116 a night and allowing 102, shooting 49 percent and 35 from three, 18 free throws a game; Gilgeous-Alexander at 32 and Jal. Williams at 17 a game. That is 5 straight wins. Without Holmgren (24 straight), Caruso (6 straight). One day's rest. Boston comes in 4-1 over its last five, scoring 122 a night and allowing 100, shooting 50 percent and 41 from three, 17 free throws a game; Brown at 29 and Tatum at 24 a game. That is 3 straight wins. Without Brown (2 straight). One day's rest.
So: OKC wins, and the game turns on the arc, Boston at 41 percent from three to OKC's 35 and the glass, where Boston has been plus-1 a night and OKC minus-4. Call it OKC 112, Boston 111, Boston keeping it close.
1/08 @ CLE — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Cleveland comes in 5-0 over its last five, scoring 127 a night and allowing 113, shooting 50 percent and 40 from three, 17 free throws a game; Mitchell at 23 and Garland at 21 a game. That is 5 straight wins. Without Merrill (2 straight), Okoro (8 straight). 2 days' rest. OKC comes in 5-0 over its last five, scoring 116 a night and allowing 102, shooting 49 percent and 38 from three, 18 free throws a game; Gilgeous-Alexander at 34 and Jal. Williams at 15 a game. That is 5 straight wins. It has lost the glass by 5 a night. Without Holmgren (25 straight), Caruso (7 straight). 2 days' rest.
So: Cleveland wins, and the game turns on the defense, OKC allowing 102 a night to Cleveland's 113. Call it Cleveland 115, OKC 112, OKC keeping it close.
1/10 @ NYK — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
New York comes in 2-3 over its last five, scoring 112 a night and allowing 112, shooting 49 percent and 30 from three, 22 free throws a game; Towns at 30 and Brunson at 23 a game. Without McBride (5 straight). One day's rest. OKC comes in 4-1 over its last five, scoring 115 a night and allowing 106, shooting 49 percent and 39 from three, 19 free throws a game; Gilgeous-Alexander at 33 and Jal. Williams at 17 a game. It has lost the glass by 4 a night. Without Holmgren (26 straight), Caruso (8 straight). One day's rest.
So: OKC wins, on the road, and the game turns on the arc, OKC at 39 percent from three to New York's 30 and the glass, where New York has been plus-4 a night and OKC minus-4. Call it OKC 112, New York 111, New York keeping it close.
1/12 @ WAS — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Washington comes in 0-5 over its last five, scoring 108 a night and allowing 125, shooting 45 percent and 36 from three, 17 free throws a game; Butler at 15 and Kuzma at 15 a game. That is 5 straight losses. Without Brogdon (3 straight). One day's rest. OKC comes in 4-1 over its last five, scoring 117 a night and allowing 105, shooting 51 percent and 43 from three, 18 free throws a game; Gilgeous-Alexander at 33 and Jal. Williams at 18 a game. Without Holmgren (27 straight), Caruso (9 straight). One day's rest.
So: OKC wins, on the road, and the game turns on the defense, OKC allowing 105 a night to Washington's 125 and the arc, OKC at 43 percent from three to Washington's 36. Call it OKC 118, Washington 108, OKC by 10.
12/27 @ ORL 108-85 — NYK notes
NYK won 108-85. NYK shot 53% (40 of 75) to ORL's 37%, 4 of 15 from three, and went to the line 34 times to ORL's 12 — 24 points from the stripe to their 11. The glass went 44-33 for them. Brunson led with 26 (11 of 21, 4 of 6 at the line); Hart added 23, Bridges 17. The hinge was Q4, 32-17: a lead of 8 became 23. Hart was the night's best plus/minus at +23.
12/28 @ WAS 136-132 — NYK notes
NYK won 136-132 in 1 overtime. NYK shot 53% (51 of 97) to WAS's 52%, 10 of 40 from three, and went to the line 26 times to WAS's 15 — 24 points from the stripe to their 13. Brunson led with 55 (18 of 31, 3 of 11 from three, 16 of 17 at the line); Towns added 30, Bridges 21. The hinge was Q4, 29-21: NYK came in trailing by 8 and left it level. Towns was the night's best plus/minus at +8.
12/30 @ WAS 126-106 — NYK notes
NYK won 126-106. NYK shot 46% (45 of 98) to WAS's 42%, 15 of 44 from three. NYK turned it over 7 times to WAS's 13. Towns led with 32 (13 of 19, 0 of 3 from three, 6 of 7 at the line); Hart added 23, Brunson 18. The hinge was Q4, 29-18: a lead of 9 became 20. Hart was the night's best plus/minus at +25.
1/01 vs UTA 119-103 — NYK notes
NYK won 119-103. NYK shot 55% (47 of 85) to UTA's 41%, 9 of 23 from three, and went to the line 23 times to UTA's 15 — 16 points from the stripe to their 12. Towns led with 31 (10 of 20, 3 of 6 from three, 8 of 9 at the line); Bridges added 27, Anunoby 22. The hinge was Q2, 32-21: NYK came in trailing by 1 and left it ahead by 10, and the lead reached 20. Hart was the night's best plus/minus at +15.
1/03 @ OKC 107-117 — NYK notes
NYK lost 107-117. NYK shot 48% (43 of 90) to OKC's 51%, 9 of 32 from three. Bridges led with 24 (10 of 19, 4 of 11 from three); Brunson added 22, Anunoby 20. Q2 was theirs, 36-21, turning a 3-point deficit into a 12-point lead, but the other 3 periods went 96-71 against them. They led by as many as 14. Hart's -12 in 44 minutes was the worst on the floor.
1/04 @ CHI — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Chicago comes in 2-3 over its last five, scoring 112 a night and allowing 119, shooting 45 percent and 33 from three, 15 free throws a game; LaVine at 24 and White at 19 a game. Without Dosunmu (4 straight). 2 days' rest. New York comes in 4-1 over its last five, scoring 119 a night and allowing 109, shooting 51 percent and 31 from three, 25 free throws a game; Brunson at 30 and Towns at 25 a game. It has won the glass by 4 a night. Without McBride (2 straight). Second night of a back-to-back.
So: New York wins, on the road, and the game turns on the line, where New York takes 25 free throws a game to Chicago's 15 and the defense, New York allowing 109 a night to Chicago's 119. Call it New York 117, Chicago 114, Chicago keeping it close.
1/06 vs ORL — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
New York comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 123 a night and allowing 119, shooting 50 percent and 30 from three, 24 free throws a game; Brunson at 32 and Towns at 31 a game. Without McBride (3 straight). One day's rest. Orlando comes in 2-3 over its last five, scoring 96 a night and allowing 103, shooting 41 percent and 32 from three, 17 free throws a game; Suggs at 16 and Bitadze at 12 a game. It has lost the glass by 5 a night. Without Banchero (32 straight), Wagner (12 straight), Black (4 straight). Second night of a back-to-back.
So: New York wins, and the game turns on the defense, Orlando allowing 103 a night to New York's 119 and the glass, where New York has been plus-3 a night and Orlando minus-5. Call it New York 114, Orlando 106.
1/08 vs TOR — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
New York comes in 2-3 over its last five, scoring 114 a night and allowing 114, shooting 49 percent and 30 from three, 23 free throws a game; Towns at 31 and Brunson at 24 a game. That is 3 straight losses. Without McBride (4 straight). One day's rest. Toronto comes in 1-4 over its last five, scoring 102 a night and allowing 122, shooting 46 percent and 32 from three, 17 free throws a game; Barnes at 22 and Quickley at 14 a game. Without Lawson (3 straight), Battle (2 straight), Boucher (2 straight). One day's rest.
So: New York wins, and the game turns on the turnovers, Toronto giving it away 18 times a game to New York's 11 and the defense, New York allowing 114 a night to Toronto's 122. Call it New York 119, Toronto 108, New York by 11.
1/10 vs OKC — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
New York comes in 2-3 over its last five, scoring 112 a night and allowing 112, shooting 49 percent and 30 from three, 22 free throws a game; Towns at 30 and Brunson at 23 a game. Without McBride (5 straight). One day's rest. OKC comes in 4-1 over its last five, scoring 115 a night and allowing 106, shooting 49 percent and 39 from three, 19 free throws a game; Gilgeous-Alexander at 33 and Jal. Williams at 17 a game. It has lost the glass by 4 a night. Without Holmgren (26 straight), Caruso (8 straight). One day's rest.
So: OKC wins, on the road, and the game turns on the arc, OKC at 39 percent from three to New York's 30 and the glass, where New York has been plus-4 a night and OKC minus-4. Call it OKC 112, New York 111, New York keeping it close.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
OKCAM A. Mitchell
AW A. Wiggins
CW C. Wallace
IH I. Hartenstein
IJ I. Joe
JW J. Williams
JW Jal. Williams
JW Jay. Williams
KW K. Williams
LD L. Dort
SG S. Gilgeous-Alexander
NYKCP C. Payne
JB J. Brunson
JH J. Hart
KT K. Towns
LS L. Shamet
MB M. Bridges
OA O. Anunoby
PA P. Achiuwa
OKC/NYK the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
END the clock ran out, ball in hand
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur
Gilgeous-Alexander scores 33 as Thunder rally past Knicks 117-107 for 14th straight win
OKLAHOMA CITY -- — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied in the fourth quarter to win their 14th straight game, 117-107 over the New York Knicks on Friday night.
Jalen Williams added 20 points and Aaron Wiggins scored 15 of his 19 points in the final period, when Oklahoma City erased an 88-80 deficit by outscoring the Knicks 37-19.
Isaiah Hartenstein , playing against his former team for the first time, contributed 14 rebounds, seven assists and four points for the Thunder (29-5), whose loss to Milwaukee in the NBA Cup championship game on Dec. 17 does not count in the standings.
Mikal Bridges scored 24 points for New York (25-10), which had its nine-game winning streak snapped. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 17 points and 22 rebounds. Jalen Brunson added 22 points, OG Anunoby scored 20 and Josh Hart had 19.
The game was the fourth in the NBA's 79-year history between teams on winning streaks of nine games or more.
New York led 66-54 at halftime. Oklahoma City outscored the Knicks 26-22 in the third quarter to trim the lead to single digits and set the stage for the team's third comeback in three games.
Takeaways Knicks: New York allowed Oklahoma City to dictate the tempo in the fourth quarter.
Thunder: Oklahoma City put together big third quarters to rally for wins over Minnesota and the Clippers. They waited until the fourth to take control against the Knicks.
Key moment Oklahoma City trailed 97-92 midway through the fourth when Wiggins went to work, sparking a 25-10 run with three 3-pointers and a three-point play.
Key stat Oklahoma City made 14 of 27 3-pointers (51.9%) compared to 9 of 32 (21.8%) for New York.
Up next The Knicks visit Chicago on Saturday, and the Thunder host Boston on Sunday.