OKC 106 NOP 88

Starting center Jalen Williams finished with 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 steals and a pair of thunderous dunks as he helped Oklahoma City (10-2) smother New Orleans (3-9) with suffocating small ball. JDub and the undersized Thunder also went all guard, with Williams beating Shai (29 pts, 5 ast, 4 shares) for a game-high 31 points.

The Thunder are much better and deeper than most teams and appear to be less hurt than many. By beating Alex Caruso, but with more Kenrich Williams minutes in his second game back, OKC further validated its modern formula: Turnovers > Rebounds. The Pelicans nearly doubled the Thunder’s rebound total (58 to 31), but OKC was +18 in turnovers (23 to 5) and seemingly +180 in the demoralizing fast breaks those turnovers generated at New Orleans’ expense.

OKC now sits in sole position at the top of the West standings, pending the outcome of tonight’s Phoenix/Sacramento game.