The Oklahoma City Thunder rolled into Salt Lake City looking like the NBA’s juggernaut of the moment — and walked out with their 15th straight win, a 131–101 dismantling of the Utah Jazz that felt over by the first timeout.
Both teams were missing their stars, but only one looked like a defending champion.
Thunder Blitz Jazz From the Opening Tip
The game script was brutal for Utah almost immediately.
Oklahoma City opened on a
13–1 run before the Jazz finally scored their first field goal more than three minutes in.
Then it got ugly.
- The Thunder exploded to a
45–20 lead after the first quarter, burying Utah under a barrage of threes and transition buckets.
- That opening frame capped a
25–7 run fueled by second-year big
Branden Carlson, who dunked and drilled
three 3-pointers over five possessions to blow the game open.
- The Jazz have now surrendered
86 first‑quarter points over their last two games, a defensive red flag that is hard to ignore.
From there, Oklahoma City never let Utah breathe.
The Thunder led by as many as
42 points in the second half and never allowed the margin to dip back into single digits.
Shai and Lauri Sit, But Thunder’s Depth Steals the Show
On paper, this had the makings of an asterisk game.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sat out for Oklahoma City with
left elbow bursitis.
-
Lauri Markkanen, Utah’s leading scorer, missed the game with an
undisclosed illness.
What it became instead was a statement about
depth, system, and discipline.
Thunder’s balanced attack
With Shai sidelined, Oklahoma City turned to a more egalitarian offense — and it worked effortlessly.
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Chet Holmgren: 25 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks
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Jalen Williams: 25 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds
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Aaron Wiggins: 19 points as a key supporting scorer
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Branden Carlson: Season-high 13 points, sparking that first-quarter avalanche
The shooting numbers were just as ruthless:
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58% from the field as a team
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21 made 3-pointers, stretching Utah’s defense to the breaking point
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27 points off 17 Jazz turnovers, turning every mistake into a fast-break opportunity
This is what a mature contender looks like: their best player sits, and the machine barely stutters.
Jazz’s stand-ins do their best
To Utah’s credit, their young core tried to punch back.
-
Kyle Filipowski led the Jazz with
21 points and 10 rebounds, plus 3 steals.
-
Walter Clayton Jr. and
Taylor Hendricks each added
20 points; Clayton also dished
9 assists.
The problem wasn’t scoring talent — it was everything else:
- Turnovers (17) repeatedly killed any momentum.
- Perimeter defense couldn’t keep up with OKC’s ball movement and three-point volume.
- Early-game focus and discipline simply weren’t there, once again.
As one detailed local recap put it, Utah “never had the personnel, discipline, or defensive awareness to stay competitive,” and the Thunder “rolled to a 30-point win.”
How Dominant Is This Thunder Team Right Now?
The numbers are starting to feel historic.
- Oklahoma City is now
23–1 on the season.
- This victory marked their
15th consecutive win.
Even with Shai out, the Thunder looked like a veteran powerhouse:
- They controlled tempo, dictated matchups, and punished every defensive breakdown.
- Their ability to generate
high-quality threes and
rim pressure in the same game is exactly what modern contenders are built on.
If you’re looking for weaknesses, Utah didn’t expose any.
Instead, the Jazz got a real-time film session on what a top-tier, fully locked-in system looks like.
What This Loss Reveals About the Jazz
The Jazz, now
8–15, are in a very different phase of their timeline.
This game highlighted a few glaring issues:
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Slow starts: Giving up 45 in the first quarter, on top of a similarly disastrous previous game, suggests a serious problem with game prep and early focus.
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Turnover-prone offense: 17 turnovers against a team this explosive is essentially self-sabotage.
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Defensive identity crisis: Utah’s young core can score, but their team defense — rotations, communication, containment — lags far behind.
On the bright side, Filipowski, Hendricks, and Clayton putting up solid lines against an elite team is exactly the kind of developmental reps a rebuilding group needs.
What’s Next for Both Teams
The schedule isn’t giving either side much time to breathe.
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Thunder: Oklahoma City returns home to
host Phoenix on Wednesday night in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, a marquee matchup that will test just how sustainable this hot start really is.
-
Jazz: Utah heads to
Memphis on Friday, a winnable game but also a measuring stick of whether they learned anything from this defensive collapse.
If the Thunder keep stacking wins like this — even without Shai — the conversation is going to shift from “hot start” to
legitimate dynasty trajectory very quickly.
For the Jazz, the takeaway is harsher:
This wasn’t just a talent gap. It was a
discipline, structure, and identity gap. And in today’s NBA, that can be even harder to fix.
Sources
1. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Utah Jazz Live Score and Stats
2. THUNDER at JAZZ | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | December 7, 2025
3. Utah Jazz vs Oklahoma City Thunder: Post Game Recap
4. Oklahoma City Thunder vs Utah Jazz Full Game Highlights - YouTube
