The Oklahoma City Thunder pulled off a huge victory on Tuesday night thanks in large part to Josh Giddey. His teammate Jalen Williams wanted to make sure Giddey’s critics took notice.
The Thunder held on for a 119-112 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center. OKC built an 88-68 lead midway through the third quarter but nearly squandered it after the Pelicans mounted a massive comeback to cut the deficit to two.
But timely shot-making in the fourth quarter — and some hot shooting from Giddey — proved to be too much for the Pelicans to complete the comeback
Oklahoma City Thunder Wing Jalen Williams Enjoyed The Silence Amongst Josh Giddey’s Critics
Giddey had himself a night against the Pelicans. He scored the team’s first eight points, including two threes. The hot shooting turned out to be a sign of things to come for the young Aussie.
The 21-year-old set a new career high with five three-pointers made en route to 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Giddey also had nine rebounds and four assists.
The huge game led to some calling out Giddey’s critics on social media — including Jalen Williams. The Santa Clara alum responded to a post on X looking for those who had previously hoped for the Thunder to trade Giddey.
“SUPER QUIET,” said Williams with a “shh” emoji. “SHUT EM UP.”
SUPER QUIET 🤫 SHUT EM UP
— therealjalenwilliams (@jdubwttp) March 27, 2024
While he’s consistently contributed in other categories, Giddey has been the weak shooting link in the Thunder rotation this season. The Thunder have been one of the best three-point shooting teams in the NBA all season long, knocking down 39.0% of their triples through 71 games played.
Giddey has been below 35% from three for most of the year. But when even Giddey’s shot starts to fall, the Thunder become much harder to beat.
The Oklahoma City Thunder Bounced Back From Their Previous Loss In A Big Way
OKC’s win Tuesday followed the familiar script for the team following bad losses. The Thunder were walloped on the road 118-93 against the Milwaukee Bucks in their previous game, which Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took to be a stern lesson for his upstart squad.
The Thunder seemed to have learned their lesson in a hurry. They executed well down the stretch against the Pelicans to close the game on a 12-0 run and seal the victory. The team managed to pull off the road win despite Gilgeous-Alexander dealing with a pesky injury.