OKC Thunder: Player grades from solid win versus the New York Knicks –

The OKC Thunder got their first back-to-back wins of the season dispatching the New York Knicks in a trademark win. Player grades offer insight.

The first half of this matchup between the OKC Thunder and the New York Knicks was certainly not one for the highlight reels.

There were some good plays by both teams but with only a few minutes to go in the half the score was 31-27 which is more of a first-quarter score. The half ended with both teams locked at 42 apiece.

The Thunder defense was locked in for the entire game and simply had the better offensive setup which helped them get their noses in front during the third quarter and they kept the Knicks at bay for the rest of the game.

The OKC Thunder took the game away in the third period

When his team needed him to step up leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took the game away from the Knicks with an 11 point outburst. SGA was helped by a bench unit who was up for the challenge tonight. While they are young and often outmatched, they give their all.

Aleksej Pokusevski found some shooting form tonight, his first points came via an offensive rebound where he dunked the ball hard. This gave him confidence and he hit a sweet jumper from 18 feet as well as making a good 3-point shot.

Mike Muscala played solid positional defense, altering multiple shots without getting a single block. The stretch five would have to come off the court after he was hit in the midsection by a stray Austin Rivers elbow. The starters then came back to ice the game.

With that let’s examine the player grades from the victory.