The Oklahoma City Thunder continues to come up with an impressive start in the 2024-25 NBA season after the team clinched a 105-93 win against the San Antonio Spurs behind Lu Dort’s 20-point outing and a flashy night from Chet Holmgren as OKC stays perfect in the campaign.

OKC was spectacular all-night long, and they didn’t really need a lot of impressive scoring from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to win big – who just finished with 18 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds despite shooting 7-20 from the field, including 2-10 from three. It wasn’t a great game for him, and yet the Thunder cruised past the Spurs like nothing really went wrong.

The Spurs grabbed an 8-2 lead in the early moments of the first quarter. The Thunder called time, and it was all their show afterward as the team never looked back, building a 19-point lead for most of the game thanks to a 13-point run that allowed them to keep ahead of the Spurs.

A Game Night for Dort

OKC’s big starters weren’t really on display. SGA had 18 points on a rough shooting night, and Jalen Williams also struggled with 12 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds while shooting 5-13 from the field. However, considering how stacked OKC’s squad is, it was Luguentz Dort who found the best of the game as the defensive guard drilled six threes, finishing with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in the game.

Dort was a flamethrower for most of the game as he knocked down one rainbow arcing shot after another, missing only twice in his eight attempts. The Thunder would go on to finish with 17 made threes in 41 attempts. In addition to his shooting, Dort was also active on the defensive end, and he helped make life hard for San Antonio’s guards.

San Antonio managed to cut the lead to just 82-75 in the fourth before OKC responded with a 9-2 run behind rookie Ajay Mitchell leading the way with quick five points while SGA rested on the bench. OKC never scored less than 20 points in all quarters – peaking at the second quarter when they went on to score 33 points to San Antonio’s 25.

Chet vs Wemby

As with any other Thunder-Spurs game, the hype has always been about the two big men who are expected to be intertwined in their careers. However, OKC’s swarming defense really hampered Victor Wembanyama – forcing him to commit four turnovers and make just one field goal for the whole night. The reigning Rookie of the Year finished the night with just 6 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks on 1-5 shooting, including 0-3 from three.

If you are not shocked, that is the first time that Wembanyama has been held to single-digits this season, and the six points marks his career-low in points as well.

On the other hand, ROTY runner-up Chet Holmgren was looking more confident and agile for most of the game, even attacking Wembanyama in most times that he had the ball. Holmgren had a stunning night with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He also drilled all three of his shots from downtown and finished with 7-10 shooting from the field. He had a menacing presence on both ends of the floor, and it is clear that he outplayed Wembanyama right from the start with block on the latter’s dunk attempt that set the tone in the game.