Beautiful displays this night between the Thunder of Chet Holmgren and the Pacers of Jarace Walker, and the meeting kept its promises with the 98-87 victory of OKC. It’s the 4th victory in six games for the Thunder since the start of the summer leagues, and after a rest game, Holmgren dominated the proceedings with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks on 9 of 15 on shots. At his side, Ousmane Dieng got to his level with 22 points at 9 of 11 on shots, but also 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
For the Frenchman, the presence of Holmgren under the circle changes a lot of things: “We know we have Chet behind us, and that allows us to put more pressure on defense. It’s so easy…”
Encouragement from Chet Holmgren
For Holmgren, Dieng reached a milestone this summer. “He stayed aggressive through the ups and downs, which we all go through,” Holmgren said of his teammate. “He hasn’t lost his confidence. He was aggressive tonight, and the shots came in. He did good reads on the pick-a-roll, he made good passes, he did a good job on defense, he got some rebounds. He had a good all round game tonight, not just scoring points.”
On the Indiana side, the absences of “elders” like Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and Andrew Nembhard are expensive. Leader of an evening, Jarace Walker has watered a lot: 8 of 19 on shots. But he is still as impressive physically!
