Thunder Anchored By Dort, Display Strong Passing & Lose Giddey? 3 Takeaways

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Oklahoma City isn't necessarily a team known for its passing.

Entering the game against the Clippers, it sat No. 16 in the league for assists per game, which between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams, seems like a low rating. Midway through the league isn't a bad place to be, but it also leaves points on the table — though the Thunder has been lucky enough to not need them.

Thursday night told a different story than usual, however. Every starter for Oklahoma City tallied four or more assists and five players from the bench unit added to what ended up being a season-high 35 assists. 

With the additional passing came additional scoring, as Oklahoma City notched North of 130 points for the seventh time this season. And against a Clippers team that held the league's longest active win streak prior to facing the Thunder, more scoring and strong passing was going to be necessary. 

Safe to say, Oklahoma City delivered. And passing was the reason why.

Lu Dort's Dominant Defense

While passing told the overarching story of Oklahoma City's win, there were individual aspects of the match that certainly played a large role in the win.

Luguentz Dort was one of them.

In a year where his impact wasn't nearly as effective as it was originally anticipated to be, Dort needed a game to really show off his skills on both ends of the floor, and he took the Clippers game as the chance to do so. 

On offense, the guard finished with 21 points on an efficient 8-12 shooting from the floor, 3-6 from behind the arc and 2-2 from the free-throw line. He finished plus-20 in his 31 minutes to really give Los Angeles a problem defensively, but he didn't stop there. 

As much as his offense helped Oklahoma City to cruise to a home victory, it was his defense that sealed the deal. 

The Thunder's stat sheet might not show it — as Dort only tallied one block — but it certainly does for the Clippers. Primarily guarding James Harden, Dort accepted his assignment and didn't look back. Los Angeles' newly acquired guard finished the game with an extremely inefficient 7-18 shooting clip and minus-21 in a whopping 34 minutes on the court. Harden did make life difficult for the Thunder with his defense, but with Gilgeous-Alexander's 31 points and Oklahoma City's six players in double-digits, it wasn't enough. 

Dort shut down one of the Clippers' primary weapons and allowed the Thunder to take control and keep control of the game en route to a home victory. 

Giddey's Gone For How Long? 

Not much is known about the extent of Josh Giddey's injury, but seeing a key rotational piece go down with an ankle injury isn't a welcome sight. 

After a slow start to his season, Giddey had begun to find his rhythm on offense — primarily through passing and rim-scoring — as he resumed business as usual following his strong showing this summer in the FIBA World Cup. 

But just as he was beginning to better-impact the Thunder, he could be seeing more time on the bench than on the court because of his ankle. 

Midway through the second quarter, Giddey turned his ankle, went down hard and had to leave the game. Cason Wallace ended up starting in his place to commence the second 24 minutes of game action, and Giddey was ruled out entirely for the remainder of the contest.

Ideally, his ankle won't keep him sidelined for too long, but it's hard to tell just how serious the injury is. Losing him would be a big hit to an Oklahoma City team benefitting from consistency, especially as it tries to remain firmly in the top-3 seeds in the Western Conference. 

More updates will be provided as they become available on the extent of Giddey's injury. It was certainly the biggest low-point of an otherwise positive night for the winning Thunder.