The Price of Locking Down a Star

Braun had a habit tonight guarding Alexander. Every time SGA caught the ball at the top of the arc, Braun didn’t look at the ball first. He turned his head to check where Jokic was. Only then did he turn back, set his feet, and tilt his body slightly to the left, nudging SGA right, toward Jokic.

He repeated that motion all night.

Alexander finished 6-of-19 for 17 points. His streak of 20-point games stopped at 141, one week short of two full years. He took 11 three-pointers, a season high. The paint was closed, so he shot from outside. Braun stayed tight. Jokic stepped out of the paint to swarm. SGA’s favorite penetration lanes were slowly plugged by two men and their sense of positioning. Jokic, last season’s rebounding leader, grabbed only six rebounds tonight. He spent his energy outside the paint.

That was Denver’s choice. Jokic roamed. Braun held his ground. They kept SGA out of the paint.

The price came quickly. Chet alone grabbed nine offensive rebounds. Oklahoma City’s twin towers combined for 12. Jokic was out. Braun was up tight. Denver’s paint was empty. When Chet went after boards under the rim, Gordon had to run back from the three-point line to box out, and Porter had to shrink in from the weak side. Chet has long arms. Tip, tip again, and the ball stayed with OKC.

Denver paid the rebounding bill for locking up SGA.

The Thunder did not return the favor. You lock up my star, I’ll lock up yours.

With Braun glued to him, Alexander sagged off Braun to double Jokic. Braun stood in the corner, the ball came, he shot, and the Thunder accepted it. DeRozan went 5-of-9 for 13 points but had five turnovers. His reluctance to shoot threes is too well known, so in the second half J-Will left DeRozan open and joined Caruso in trapping Gordon. Gordon backed Caruso down for five seconds, the ball spinning in his hands twice, not daring to put it down, before he kicked it back out.

Gordon had 20 points through two and a half quarters. Pull-up threes off the dribble in pick-and-roll. Jab-step step-back jumpers. Aaron Gordon looked like he had absorbed the entire Gordon family skill set, Ben’s and Eric’s included. During Denver’s lead, Gordon’s points were not cheap. Every bucket had footwork, a jab, a fake. But once J-Will and SGA started swarming him, Gordon did not score a single point over the final quarter and a half.

OKC did the math clearly: leave the worst shooters open, trap the best scorer. Let Braun shoot. Let DeRozan shoot. Do not let Gordon shoot.

In the second half, OKC’s twin towers pounded the offensive glass, and Chet chased his own miss from the corner three. Braun tried to throw down a soaring dunk and Chet slammed it away. J-Will pushed the break and forced a Denver timeout. That was when SGA slowly woke up. He read that Jokic was coming to trap him and began using his gravity to make plays. A straight drop-off to Chet under the rim. 62-all. SGA to Jaylin to Caruso for three. 67–62. SGA joined Jaylin in trapping Jokic, then hit a three of his own late in the third to push the lead to six. Early in the fourth, Murray was stripped, J-Will scored in transition, and Denver called timeout again.

SGA came alive a little in the fourth: a right-hand drive into a step-back midrange, then SGA to Hartenstein to Cason for a deep ball, then another step-back three. 84–72. The game was basically over by then.

From late third to fourth, OKC went on a 22–10 run. SGA scored eight in that stretch, fed one open layup, and created two open threes. He woke up for only a little while. It was enough.

Chet finished with 12 points, 17 rebounds, and 4 blocks in 27 minutes. Four blocks in back-to-back games. J-Will proved how much thickness a healthy version of him gives OKC. The Thunder’s four bigs all played at least 12 minutes again tonight. At one point in the fourth, Denver had to use Gordon to match up with Malevy.

Denver has one and a half centers. OKC has four.

That line applies to Wembanyama. It also applies to Jokic. Jokic and Wembanyama have been held to 6-of-32 by OKC over the past two games. The sample is small, but the direction is clear: OKC’s defense does not discriminate. Whether you are a guard star or a center star, if you are the axis, they have a price to make you pay.

Jokic went 5-of-19 tonight, with only three shots in the paint. He barely posted up. Almost everything was high-post handoffs. Murray did not shoot many threes either, preferring to attack the rim and kick out. Denver’s original plan seemed to be this: Jokic spaces the floor and saves energy to defend SGA; Murray initiates; everyone else shoots threes. But OKC flipped the equation. You want Jokic to space the floor, I’ll keep Jokic away from the rim. You want Murray to initiate, I’ll trap Murray. You want everyone else to shoot, I’ll leave the worst shooter open.

Both sides locked up the other’s star and each paid a bill. Denver paid with rebounds. OKC paid with local open looks. In the first half, Denver rode Gordon’s explosion to the lead. The longer the game went, the better OKC read what Denver was doing.

With 1:43 left, SGA already had 17. He could have stayed in and scored three more to keep the 20-point streak alive. 141 games, one week short of two years, right there for the taking. But he came out. Walking back to the bench, he tugged at his jersey collar, took a towel and draped it over his head, sat down, and glanced at the scoreboard. Chet came over and dapped him up. Neither said anything.

His body language has been more expressive this season, more external than last year. It has been that way since the first game against San Antonio. He looks more invested, more anxious, easier to fire up. But in the end, he did not stat-pad.

The streak stopped at 141. The +21 was on the stat sheet, highest on the team.

Alexander played his worst game in two years, and OKC still beat Denver by double digits. To suppress SGA, you have to give up threes. To suppress SGA and the threes, you have to give up the twin towers. Denver chose the former and paid with rebounds. OKC chose the latter and paid with open looks for Braun and DeRozan. The difference is that OKC’s bill got covered. Chet took the boards. J-Will trapped. Caruso rotated. Hartenstein held his ground. Denver’s bill ultimately fell to Jokic and Gordon.

Gordon carried it for two and a half quarters, then could not carry it for the last quarter and a half. Jokic carried the traps all night and made only five shots.

SGA’s streak is over. He left the floor with OKC ahead, +21 on the scoreboard. 141 stopped yesterday, one week short of two years. The number is gone. The question remains: can you lock up one man and still lock up four centers, an entire rotation, and a whole defense?

Chet sat down on the bench, picked up the stat sheet, glanced at it, and put it down again. 17 rebounds, nine on the offensive end. He did not show much expression, as if he had just finished a routine day’s work.