SGA is off to a fantastic start to the 2022-23 season. In this game, Gilgeous-Alexander led both teams in scoring with 24 points, while stuffing the stat sheet with five rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Shai did struggle early on in this game and found himself in bad foul trouble, recording four fouls in just the first half. However, he did not record a single foul for the rest of the game, which is exactly the kind of discipline you want to see in your star player.
Mann shot the lights out of the ball in this game, making 4-of-7 attempts from deep. He scored 14 points and added three rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Mann also had the biggest highlight of the night, snatching Paul George’s ankles and knocking down the open three. Mann’s elite shot creation is jaw-dropping at times and he is becoming very exciting to watch. Although he’ll most likely be back in his sixth-man role when Giddey is healthy, it’s good to see him and SGA look very comfortable together in the backcourt.
In the first few games of the season, Dort struggled to find his rhythm offensively. Before this game, Dort was shooting 25.5 percent from the field. However, he really bounced back in this game, scoring 21 points while shooting an efficient 9-of-15 from the floor. One of Dort’s problems early in his career has been finishing at the rim, but Dort converted on many of his looks around the rim, including a nice finish with his left hand. Dort also played his usual lockdown defense against George, holding him to just 10 points on the night. An exceptional game from Dort, and hopefully one he can build upon.
Wiggins is one of the players that does everything you want him to do without jumping off the page. He dropped 11 points and shot 3-for-6 from three-point land while playing good defense. He also added six rebounds and three assists on the night. What is interesting is Wiggins did not even play in the season opener and now he has started back-to-back games and performed well. It’ll be intriguing to see if he keeps getting the starting nod moving forward.
It’s kind of hard to give JRE a grade for this game because he only played in a little over 14 minutes of action. He scored just five points on the night and knocked down one three-pointer. Three players off the bench played over 20 minutes and I wonder if Robinson-Earl will get the starting nod in OKC’s next matchup.