Friday, the OKC Thunder strung together arguably their most impressive performance on the season as they clawed their way back from as much as a 14-point deficit against the red-hot Knicks and, ultimately, pulled away with their 14-straight win.
Though the contest saw usual suspects such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams once again shine bright (combined for 53 points and 12 assists) while the team as a whole shot 51.9 percent from deep, what made this outing so remarkable to watch was the late-game heroics from wing, Aaron Wiggins.
Despite being amid a rather up-and-down season from both a usage and, frankly, performance standpoint, the 26-year-old has proven time and time again that he's looking to put his best foot forward every time his number is called.
Against New York, Wiggins' readiness paid off in a major way both for him and the team as a whole, as his late-game heroics (15 points on 100 percent shooting from the field and deep) played a major role in them coming out victorious.
His hot shooting drew the attention of guys like SGA, who was seemingly seeking him out in crunch time with the game on the line, and from his head coach Mark Daigneault who, following the contest, spoke glowingly to reporters about the fourth-year pro.
Thunder coach praises Aaron Wiggins after huge performance vs Knicks
"Wiggins, I'm happy for him. He's done this before. We all know how good of a player he is but he played five minutes, I think, against Indiana... Then turned around, had a really good outing against Charlotte and strung together a good week and got himself back on track. He just kept his confidence, didn't make excuses, just went and played. And then tonight he got rewarded for that persistence. I was happy to see him contribute the way he did, make the shots he made. He was really, really good in the fourth," Daigneault said.
As the Thunder headman noted, Wiggins has had quite a solid stretch run as of late, as he's been posting impressive per-game averages of 13.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.0 steals while shooting 57.8 percent from the floor and 43.5 percent from deep over his last five games.
Compared to his previous stretch of five games where he was posting just 4.6 points and 1.2 rebounds on 36.4 percent shooting from the floor and 30.8 percent shooting from distance, this is a clear step in the right direction for the two guard and everyone's seemingly overjoyed to see it.
Following Daigneault's stint at the podium post-game both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams gave Wiggins a round of applause for his performance while Isaiah Hartenstein described the wing's play as "impressive."
To Wiggins himself, Friday's showing was a "top-10" moment of his entire basketball career. Hopefully, for the team's sake, he can keep this momentum going as the Thunder take on the Celtics, Cavaliers, and, once again, the Knicks over their next three games.