We all knew the winning ways of the OKC Thunder wouldn't last forever. Wednesday, Oklahoma City saw their undefeated stretch come to a bitter end in what ended up being an absolute nail-biter of a game against the Denver Nuggets.
From stat-sheet-stuffing performances by both Jalen Williams and Nikola Jokic to role players like Aaron Wiggins and Russell Westbrook stepping up in major ways offensively, each team managed to get near-max efforts from virtually everyone who stepped foot on the hardwood during the 48-minute thriller.
In the end, however, Oklahoma City was the club that wound up falling short, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's last-second lay-in attempt to send things to overtime was swatted at the rim by Nuggets guard Peyton Watson, seeing the Thunder succumb to their first defeat of the year with the final score reading 124-122.
Though losses are generally looked back on for teams to pinpoint specific things that need to be corrected for future contests, in truth, Oklahoma City appeared to do more good than bad against Denver, and, during his post-game press conference, star big Chet Holmgren sang the praise of one under-the-radar contributor.
Chet Holmgren hypes Thunder wing Isaiah Joe for efforts vs Nuggets
" always out there putting his body on the line. Whether it's putting his chest on people when they're driving, top-side tagging, crashing for those . Whatever he has to do to go out there and try and help us win he's gonna do that," Holmgren said of Joe.
Throughout these early stages of the 2024-25 campaign, coach Mark Daigneault has consistently shuffled up his starting lineup, particularly when it comes to who is slotting into the wing spot.
Wednesday, Isaiah Joe received the nod to work with the first-five unit, and wound up providing help in one major area, but perhaps not where one would generally expect.
Though more known for his 3-and-D abilities, especially the former attribute where he boasts a career shooting clip of 39.7 percent, during his 25 minutes of action the 25-year-old served as the most prominent offensive rebounding weapon for the Thunder, snatching down 4 boards on this end, three of which immediately led to second-chance scores for the ball club.
What makes his efforts in this area of the game all the more impressive is the fact that he did so while being tied with sophomore Cason Wallace as the smallest full-time player on Oklahoma City's roster at just 6-foot-4.
While Joe's productivity on the night may have come as a bit of a surprise to outside viewers, Holmgren capped his presser off by hyping the rest of his Thunder teammates, saying "I feel like we have a roster full of guys like that."
Considering the constant maneuvering at this specific spot on the depth chart, it seems coach Daigneault abides by this type of sentiment as well.