For the second time in three days, the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a 24-plus point deficit to register a win.
A couple of days back, they did it against the Chicago Bulls and today, the Thunder made the comeback against the Memphis Grizzlies.
OKC becomes first team in last 20 seasons to overcome 24-point deficits in back-to-back games 😳 pic.twitter.com/HydYees0jO
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) December 19, 2019
Dennis Schroder scored a game-high 31 points (10-11 FT's) and dished out seven assists in 32 minutes off the bench on 10-of-19 (52.6%) shooting from the field. He scored 22 (7-11 FG's) of his 31 in the second half when the Thunder made their comeback run.
The Thunder were down by their largest deficit of 24 (89-65) with 7:10 minutes remaining in the third quarter after the Grizzlies outscored them 21-6 over the first 4:50 minutes of the half.
OKC kept crawling back over the remaining part of the third quarter but made a huge surge in the closing seconds of that period:
5 𝔭𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔰 in less than 5 𝔰𝔢𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔡𝔰.
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 19, 2019
Down by 7 entering the 4th quarter.
Who's ready to #ThunderUp this final quarter?
👀 on @FOXSportsOK pic.twitter.com/i9ubn4l7NW
Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 20 points apiece, Steven Adams finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists while Chris Paul chipped in with 18 as the OKC Thunder won the first two games of their five-game homestand in historic fashion.
Their current homestand is wrapped up with a rematch against the Grizzlies.
For the Grizzlies, rookie Ja Morant (22p/7a/5r) received plenty of help courtesy of Jonas Valanciunas (24 pts; 11-16 FG's) and Canadian rookie Brandon Clarke (27 pts; 13-19 FG's). This was the second time in the last three games that Clarke has scored more than 25 points.