Nuggets and Notes
The Thunder scored another ridiculous blowout, beating the Jazz in an NBA Cup qualifying game to go to 16-1 and maintain their stranglehold on their status as the best team in the league.
Oklahoma City now sits atop their NBA Cup group by both record (2-0) and point differential (+63). They have two more qualifying games against the Wolves and Suns this coming Wednesday and Friday, respectively.
The Jazz showed much respect for the Cup, torching OKC for 44 points on their hazy purple court in the first quarter. Lauri Markkanen's perfect 11 point contribution (2-2 from three, 5-5 from the line) was even outdone by...Kevin Love. Love scored 12 by bombing 4-5 from deep.
Love looks like he should be going over your retirement plans with you, not pouring it in against the best team on earth. As annoyed as I was by his play, it's nice to know old, slow-but-crafty bigs have not yet gone extinct.
It's not so nice that Jusuf Nurkic's old dumb elbow hasn't.
Love's age and history of vocally objecting to his situation in recent career stops, including when he was traded to Utah, would've led you to believe he'd have pouted his way to a buyout or retirement by now. But kudos to him for embracing his veteran role on a team vying for the play-in at best.
The game was close through most of three quarters, but the drama for this Thunder fan was mostly over after the first period.
Said drama, pt. 1: Svi (!) Mykhailiuk taking advantage of Shai loafing a bit after a missed layup. That possession represents all of my SGA criticisms for the entire season. He finished with 30+, skipped another fourth quarter, and kept marching toward the 50/40/90 club. Ridiculous.
Drama, pt. 2: The Branden Carlson first quarter minutes. The starters dug an 11-point hole on their own, but bringing in the Jaylin Williams/Carlson duo to keep double bigs going while Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are both suited up? So unnecessary. Williams was fantastic (6 first quarter points, 15 overall on 5-7 3PA), but Carlson was a drain on offense while the Jazz fronctourt kept burning OKC on the other end. Thankfully, Carlson did not check back in until garbage time.
Oklahoma City unsurprisingly recovered, going nuclear in the second and third quarters while clamping down on the Jazz. After the 44-30 opening frame, OKC held Utah under 25 points for each remaining quarter.
There's nothing more dominant than the steady Thunder attack. OKC methodically worked their way back to a close game at half, and did some torching of their own in the third. They finished the quarter on a 33-4 run, capped by a JWill three that comically bounced above the backboard before dropping through the net.
I'm glad Lauri played poorly the rest of the night. I needed that to prevent me from floating insane trade ideas for the Thunder to get him.
For more very serious Jazz analysis, I quite enjoyed this view of Utah's season from Basketball Feelings through the prism of their greyscale City Edition hat: "This is a variation of the gorgeous red-yellow-orange gradient City Editions from the Mitchell-Gobert era. Now, imagine that a vampire swept into Utah and drained that design of all of its vital life-force, leaving but a wan, bloodless husk. Salt Lake City’s personal Count Orlok is Danny Ainge, and he has sucked all of the joy from the Utah Jazz organization like a Mormon Nosferatu. Lauri Markkanen and Ace Bailey are trapped in his castle against their will. Walker Kessler is dead. Danny Ainge is an appetite — for the number one pick in the 2026 draft — nothing more."
Utah has been buzzing about Ace Bailey, who fell to them at #5 this summer. Even in a good statistical game (15 points on 6-9 shooting, 3-5 from deep), he looked considerably worse than every rookie selected ahead of him. Bailey had three steals, but turned each one into blown fastbreak chances thanks to his inept passing and finishing.
One Key Takeaway
OKC's on a 77-win pace, without Jalen Williams, and people are starting to openly wonder if they can win 70 (or more). Of course they can.
They won 68 games with a worse, more injured roster last season. Chet Holmgren missed 50 games, and has been significantly better on offense this year. Ajay Mitchell is for real. Their defense, where content contenders typically slouch, has been even better so far. JDub was available to open that campaign, but a good chunk of his early season was spent playing out of position as a stopgap center. And then OKC won a title with his wrist injured.
Williams has been hinting at his looming return since the scheduled reevaluation of his wrist last week (no real update has been provided by the team). Incidentally (?), there are exactly 65 games left in the season, the minimum Williams would have to play to stay eligible for awards that trigger his max contract incentives.
As good as OKC has been, JDub will make them better, very soon. Who knows if the team will chase a historic win total, but they are primed to do just that.