The Oklahoma City Thunder, through 20 games, have had spotty health. Chet Holmgren has missed nine of those contests, and won’t return until much later in the season; Isaiah Hartenstein, injured during preseason, missed the first 15. Alex Caruso has missed seven. Holmgren and Hartenstein haven’t played a game together, and Caruso’s only shared the floor with Hartenstein once. Oklahoma City's aggressive moves to elevate their title contention during the offseason haven’t worked out, or not worked out, just yet. We still need to see them play out.
But so far, the changes haven’t mattered too much. At 15-5, they’ve shown that their roster is deep enough to maintain similar tenacity no matter who’s out there. OKC’s at the top of the brutal Western Conference, even though we haven’t seen their full form. They are the best defense in the NBA, and the level of offense-stopping they can get to when everyone’s healthy and accustomed to one another is frightening to imagine. They are, already, a team built to solve any basketball problem you can throw at them. Fully healthy, they might be capable of solving hoops riddles that do not yet exist. We’ll have to wait and see.
It helps, on the other side of the ball, that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—last year’s runner-up in the MVP race—is back at it again as one of the best scoring anchors in the sport. No one is more discrete and calculated with their speed. SGA glides to his many comfortable shooting spots—often right at the rim—or into fouls and free throws. He’s a walking get out of jail free card for offenses, because you can’t expend a hand’s worth of fingers counting the defenders capable of dealing with his movement and touch. The Thunder run good actions, but a lot of the time, they don’t need to. The way it’s looking, Shai will finish in the top five of MVP vote-getters once again.
And Hartenstein, returned two weeks ago, has super-charged Gilgeous-Alexander’s game. An elite screening, passing, and rebounding center, Hartenstein begets many easy guard and wing sequences with his size and wit. SGA has benefitted, but Jalen Williams is operating more freely as well, and OKC’s litany of able guards are also getting simple three-point shots from Hub Hartenstein, who moves defenders out of the action and delivers hand-offs in single motions. Frequently, these passes are delivered in reverse and between the legs, which I call “the poop shoot” pass. Though Hartenstein doesn’t take shots from beyond the arc, he keeps defenders honest with his quick lob cuts, and has shockingly long floater range, which he often uses to break the defense’s back just when they thought they’ve done everything right.
Heading into Sunday night’s game against the Thunder, the Houston Rockets knew all of this, and were ready for it. Right behind OKC in the standings at No. 2 in the Bestern Conference, they’ve improved dramatically from last season despite making no significant roster moves. Houston’s has been a story of internal improvement—maturity, refinement, continuity. Spiritually managed by a couple of ballsy veteran starters in Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet, their real punch comes from their deep, budding assemblage of young talent.
Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, fresh off juicy extensions on their rookie contracts, start with Jabari Smith Jr., and young wings Amen Thompson and Tari Eason come off the bench, but finish many games having clocked starters’ minutes. Last season, Green and Sengun both thrived but never together; they seem to have gotten the balance right this year. And Thompson and Eason have developed into one of the NBA’s signature bench duos, wreaking transition havoc with their turnover creation, length, and athleticism. Fans have taken to calling them the “Terror Twins.”
The Rockets jumped out to a halftime lead against OKC, largely by punishing the Thunder with size. Smith Jr. was all over the boards, and Sengun was too; in his fourth season, the Turkish star has figured out how to defend at a high level, too, despite lacking tremendous foot speed. Sengun also created consistently unique scoring opportunities by bringing the ball up and orchestrating. Eason and Thompson, as they do, generally overwhelmed. The Thunder came back in the third quarter, though, by playing small ball, and viewers were struck with the exciting feeling that neither team could win the way they usually do: by being the more ferocious squad on the floor. At one point, the teams looked ready to brawl after a loose ball, but the fracas proved to be more about competitive over-spill than genuine anger. These teams have the juice, and both are hungry to show they’ve got more.
It was one of those wily veterans who made the difference in the game. Fred VanVleet, as any Toronto Raptors fan can tell you, is capable of becoming the best player in any high-pressure contest. His gobsmacking shot-making courage sung to the tune of 38 points in this one, including a deep, will-breaking three-pointer to beat a tough shot-clock predicament. Houston won 119-116, reinforcing their spot with the Thunder at the top of their conference’s new vanguard. It might take a few more signature wins for the whole basketball world to notice, but plenty more newcomers are already looking into Houston today.
