Jan. 7—After getting blown out by the Pelicans at home on New Year’s Eve, the Thunder kept things close Wednesday night as it eked out a 111-110 win in New Orleans.

“It was a fun win,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Guys were excited after that one.”

Here are five takeaways from the game:

Bazley’s third quarter

After two minutes in the third quarter, the score was: Darius Bazley 11, Pelicans 0.

The Thunder started the second half on an 11-0 run, all scoring courtesy of the secondyear forward. Bazley started the third quarter with two 3-pointers and another 3-point play as he finished a layup through a foul.

But Bazley wasn’t done. He finished the quarter with 15 points and five rebounds.

“He’s done that recently where he’s gone on these little flurries and gotten into a nice rhythm,” Daigneault said. “He’s still learning. He’s smoothing his game out. He’s learning how to become a consistent player.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 10 points in the quarter.

Bazley and Gilgeous-Alexander outscored the Pelicans 25-19 on their own in the third quarter, and OKC wiped away its halftime deficit by outscoring New Orleans 34-19.

Bazley’s final line: a seasonhigh 20 points with 12 rebounds

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a team-high 21 points with nine assists, five rebounds and five steals.

Seesaw fourth quarter

The Thunder’s 10-point lead after three quarters disappeared quickly.

Daigneault called an early timeout after a 6-0 Pelicans run, and the Thunder’s lead shrunk to one point with nine minutes left.

Then Mike Muscala pulled a Bazley.

Muscala drilled back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in a 45-second span. The last one, a 27-footer from the top of the arc, prompted a Pelicans timeout. The Thunder’s lead swelled back to 10 points with eight minutes left.

“It’s fun to play when we’re getting stops, pushing in transition and looking for threes,” Muscala said.

But after that came a 12-0 Pelicans run as New Orleans took the lead with four minutes left.

Al Horford, who shot just 3-of-11, hit a clutch 3-pointer with two minutes left and Gilgeous-Alexander powered the Thunder’s offense down the stretch.

Thunder guard George Hill put the Thunder ahead by one point with 12 seconds left after a pair of free throws.

“We just gotta make plays down the stretch when it matters,” Hill said. “I think we did a great job of staying resilient and making plays when we had to.”

Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the cousin of Gilgeous-Alexander, missed an open 3-pointer at the buzzer for the Pelicans.

“The more we play each other we’re getting a little used to it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I was underneath the basket. Shot looked good and I was just praying it missed, and it did. But yeah, it’s always fun playing against him. Dream come true.

Tying a record

The Thunder heaved 29 3-pointers in the first half. That tied an OKC record for most 3-point attempts in a half.

The Thunder was 10-of-29 on those attempts (34.5%).

Daigneault’s squad entered the game third in the NBA in 3-point attempts per game.

The final 3-point discrepancy was massive. OKC was 19-of-46. New Orleans was 4-of-22.

Defending Zion

Zion Williamson led the Pelicans with 29 points on 12-of-17 shooting. Bazley drew the defensive assignment against Williamson, but the Pelicans forward was too powerful to handle. Steven Adams, Williamson’s partner in the post, recorded the first triple-double of his career with 10 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds.

Playing fast

The Thunder outscored the Pelicans 27-8 on fastbreak points.

Hamidou Diallo was largely responsible.

The Thunder guard pushed the pace, especially in the first half. Diallo led the Thunder with nine points in the first half on 4-of-5 shooting.

“That second unit in the first and second quarters, that was really when we had a lot of pop in transition,” Daigneault said. “Some of those were turnovers, some of those were off of rebounds, but I thought we came down the floor with a lot of force and we got ourselves easy baskets tonight.”

The Thunder held a 24-14 edge in points off turnovers and the Thunder bench outscored the Pelicans bench 40-19.