Bouncing back from a tough individual performance and team result against an even more intimidating foe proved necessary for Chet Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder, which gave up a season-worst 140 points to the Denver Nuggets in a 13-point loss on Monday night.

Of all the configurations seen across their 11 games together with the Thunder, it took Tuesday’s second-quarter lineup for the Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein pairing to look euphoric.

Since returning to action for the Thunder, Holmgren is averaging 13.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game in just 26.1 minutes per contest, with the team preferring to keep him fresh in preparation for the deep playoff run they intend to have.

While the Oklahoma City Thunder's historically great defense has struggled lately, Ben Pfeifer explains why there's no reason to be concerned.