Thunder punishes Jazz with eye-popping bench production

The Oklahoma City Thunder's bench production helped complete an 18-point comeback while improving to 16-1 in a 144-112 NBA Cup win against the Utah Jazz. After a 30-2 run, the Thunder's bench scoring production reached a historic 71 points, which is the second-highest in franchise history.

Jaylin Williams' 15 points off a career-high five threes set the tone offensively, as Isaiah Joe connected on four threes, and finished with three assists, and two steals. Williams and Joe also made their presence felt on the defensive end of the floor, where Alex Caruso (11 points, three assists) and Ajay Mitchell (12 points, two steals) disrupted the Jazz's offensive rhythm.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault's second unit helped hold the Jazz to 20 points in the third quarter, but for him, the second unit's impact started toward the end of the first quarter and bled into the second.

“I thought J-Will, I-Joe, Caruso, Ajay — those guys came into the game and elevated the tone, and got the game back into a stable spot, which allowed us to just build through the rest of the game,” Daigneault said. “I thought those were two very key things tonight.”

The Thunder took a 22-point lead (110-88) at the end of the third quarter and never looked back against the Jazz. Oklahoma City's bench averages 38.5 points per game this season, which is the sixth-best in the NBA.

However, the Thunder's second unit scoring production should spike once All-Star Jalen Williams makes his regular-season debut, and when Aaron Wiggins, who's averaging 14.8 points per game, returns from a thigh injury. Wiggins has missed the previous eight games and is the bench's second leading scorer behind Mitchell (15.9 points).

Alex Caruso makes eye-opening declaration about the Thunder

Thunder veteran Alex Caruso believes he leads the best bench in the NBA and wasn't afraid to make that declaration amidst his team's best start in franchise history. The Thunder's depth has kept the defending champion afloat between injuries to three starters in All-Star Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Lu Dort throughout the first 17 games of the regular season.

Caruso says the Thunder's best five players off the bench could go toe-to-toe with any other teams' second unit.

“I think whoever we put out — regardless of who's in the lineup and who's out — our second 5 is better than everybody else's second 5 in the league,” Caruso said. “Humbly saying that. Obviously, it's no disrespect to anybody, but that's the confidence I have in myself and my teammates.

“We play with that confidence when we're out there, and a lot of that is the energy we play with, the connectivity on defense, and then our ability to kind of play random on offense with Shai. But also, when Shai steps off the floor, and even saying that, we're missing some guys to start the year.”

Caruso, alongside Ajay Mitchell, and Cason Wallace, who's starting in place of Williams, but often strengthens the Thunder's second-unit lineups, defend at a higher level than most opposing teams' bench players. Plus, head coach Mark Daigneault has options with Jaylin Williams, a stretch center, who can defend the pick-and-roll, and mix with either Isaiah Hartenstein or Chet Holmgren.