Thunder 124, Trail Blazers 95: The Day After Report

Box Score | Play-by-Play

Nuggets and Notes

• The Oklahoma City Thunder ended 2025 on a high note, with a complete and total dismantling of the Portland Trail Blazers. No stress, no fuss, just a business-like demolition of an overmatched opponent.
• Chet Holmgren hosted a block party for New Year's Eve. The box score says he had 6 swats, but it felt like he had 10 or more swats. Portland could almost do nothing inside when he was on the court. So even though his scoring output was on the lower side (12 points), his impact on this game was massive.
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did the thing again: 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting, 7-of-7 from the line, 0 turnovers.
• That's right, ZERO TURNOVERS. There is no other player in this league that protects the ball as well as SGA with a usage rate as high as the MVP. Literally, no one. For comparison's sake, SGA has 63 total turnovers this entire season, while Luka Doncic has 107.
• While Christmas has already passed, the Thunder still acted like the Grinch and did some stealing. The Thunder had 15 steals last night, tied for third-most steals OKC has had in a game this year. That's Thunder basketball.
• Jalen Williams had 13 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists. With his elevated distributing this season, are we going to finally get a JDub triple double this season? I'm betting yes.
• Lu Dort and Isaiah Joe share the same level of confidence and willingness to shoot the three ball. Both took 10 threes, both with zero hesitation to launch. And, importantly, both were very successful. Dort was 4-of-10 and Joe was 5-of-10.
• Now about Dort's three-point shooting: I've seen the comments and the groans, but I'm going to defend Lu here. Dort is a career 36% three-point shooter and even shot over 41% last season on 5.8 attempts per game. For some reason teams don't respect him and leave him wide open with high frequency. If teams are going to defend you that way, you HAVE to shoot. You will kill the offense if you refuse to shoot. Lu Dort is doing exactly what he should be doing.
• More on Dort from three: does SGA hesitate to pass to Dort out on the wing or in the corner? No. Tells you all you need to know.
• Ajay Mitchell has done what no other player has done this season: score 17+ points on 4 or fewer attempts. Even Shai is jealous of that kind of efficiency.
• In fact, Mitchell is the first player in almost 10 years to score 17+ on 4 or fewer attempts. What a stat!
• OKC had 7 players in double figures, including 12 from Branden Carlson. Props to Mr. Carlson.
• Free-throw merchant Deni Avidja had just 7 attempts. Interesting.

One Key Takeaway

As we close the books on 2025 (the best season a Thunder fan might ever experience if you ask the Daily Thunder Podcast), it felt good to watch the Thunder play Thunder basketball. Last night's game was a picture-perfect representation of what makes this team so special, so good, and so tough to beat.

Here's to 2026. May 2026 be as epic as 2025 as a Thunder fan.