Shai GilgeousAlexander rallies OKC on ring night as Kevin Durant fouls out late in 2OT openingnight thriller Jason Owens October 21, 2025 at 8:09 PM 0 The NBA delivered a thriller for opening night and the league's return to NBC.
- - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rallies OKC on ring night as Kevin Durant fouls out late in 2OT opening-night thriller
Jason Owens October 21, 2025 at 8:09 PM
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The NBA delivered a thriller for opening night and the league's return to NBC. And the Oklahoma City Thunder delivered a gift for their fans on ring night.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back from a five-point effort in the first half to send the Thunder to overtime in Tuesday's season opener against the Houston Rockets. He then finished the game in a second overtime with a pair of game-winning free throws by drawing a foul that fouled Kevin Durant out in his Rockets debut.
Gilgeous-Alexander's two late free throws capped a 35-point night and a 125-124 double-overtime win for the Thunder on a night when they raised the banner from their 2024-25 championship. And they wouldn't have gotten to the extra sessions without a monster second half from the reigning MVP.
SGA delivers effort worthy of an MVP
On a night when they played without Jaylen Williams and struggled to hit anything from 3, the Thunder trailed the Rockets for almost the entire second half. But as they did throughout their championship run, they kept things close with aggressive on-ball defense. Then Gilgeous-Alexander took over.
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The reigning league MVP and Finals MVP scored 12 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter and hit a jumper late in regulation to force the first overtime. With first-team All-Defensive team member Amen Thompson draped on him, Gilgeous-Alexander created separation and pulled up for an elbow jumper to tie the game at 104-104 with two seconds remaining in regulation.
SGA TIES IT WITH 2 SECONDS LEFT! pic.twitter.com/Oe04I0cwY3
— Follow: @fsh733 (@fsh733) October 22, 2025
The Thunder then opened a 110-104 lead in the first extra session with 3s by Chet Holmgren and Gilgeous-Alexander. But the Rockets roared back to tie the game at 115-115 and force the second extra session.
Battle in second OT
The teams continued their back-and-forth battle in a second overtime that featured six lead changes. On a monster night in which he led all scorers with 39 points, Alperen Şengün attacked the basket for a layup in traffic to give the Rockets a 124-123 lead with 11 seconds remaining.
The Thunder called a timeout to set up a half-court set and inbounded the ball to their MVP guard. With Durant guarding him, Gilgeous-Alexander dribbled and pump-faked from the left wing. Durant bit and bumped Gilgeous-Alexander as he jumped for the shot. He got whistled for his sixth foul and headed to the bench.
Reverse-pivot + shot-fake from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander baits Kevin Durant into his 6th foul and 2 free throws to take the leadDeMar DeRozan and Dwyane Wade would be proud pic.twitter.com/KJoRdSPz8s
— Jackson Lloyd (@JacksonLloyd952) October 22, 2025
Gilgeous-Alexander went to the line to sink the game-winning free throws to ensure that ring night in Oklahoma City would not be spoiled.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. He scored 30 of his 35 points in the second half and overtime sessions. Holmgren paced the Thunder early with 11 of Oklahoma City's first 13 points and finished with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
The Thunder countered a poor shooting night from 3 (13 of 52, 25%) by forcing 21 Rockets turnovers, 11 via steals.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander delivered an opening-night effort worth of an MVP. ()
The Thunder win spoiled Durant's debut with the Rockets and a huge night from Şengün, who appears ready to build on his breakout 2024-25 campaign that earned him his first All-Star bid.
Şengün finished with 39 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and a block. He hit a career-high five 3-pointers on eight attempts. And he was the clear No. 1 option Tuesday night on a team that now features Durant.
Durant didn't have a bad night. Far from it. He finished with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists while shooting a typically efficient 9 of 16 from the field. He still looks very much like the surgical offensive force that he's been throughout his 17-season NBA career.
But his late foul of Gilgeous-Alexander helped seal the Thunder win. And he escaped a moment of ignominy, courtesy of the game officials.
Overtime officiating controversy
With the clock winding down on a 115-115 game in overtime Durant corralled a rebound on the baseline off a blocked Gilgeous-Alexander jumper.
He immediately called for timeout. But there was a problem.
The Rockets didn't have any timeouts. Had officials realized his timeout call, they should have called him for a technical foul that would have awarded the Thunder a free throw with less the two seconds remaining.
KD tried to call timeout without having any, but it goes unacknowledged, and we're off to double overtime. 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/gt4zcMmq3t
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) October 22, 2025
But they didn't. And the game clocked ticked to zero to send the game to a second overtime.
Thankfully for the officiating crew, the Thunder ended up winning in the second overtime.
And thankfully for everyone involved with Tuesday's thriller, the game was ultimately decided by the players on the court.
Source: "AOL Sports"
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