Oct. 28—OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder had the advantage in transition.

With less than three minutes left in the game, the Thunder had a four-on-two fast break opportunity when Tre Mann sprinted to the left wing and drained a pull-up three to expand his team’s lead to 12 points.

A little over a minute later, Los Angeles Clippers’ head coach Ty Lue waved the white flag and subbed in his bench for the final two minutes of the game as the Thunder collected its second win against them in three days with a 118-110 win on Thursday.

The Thunder improved its record to 2-3 — the same as their opponents — after sweeping the Clippers in its mini-baseball series.

The young backcourt of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Mann — both players acquired when the Thunder traded Paul George to the Clippers — led the way once again. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24 points on 10-of-23 shooting, six assists and five rebounds. Mann finished with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting and went 4-of-7 from deep.

George, on the other hand, recorded a plus-minus of -25 in 31 minutes and finished with just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting, Here are four other takeaways from the Thunder’s 118110 win: 1. Lugentz Dort bounces back with big offensive outing One of the biggest storylines in the Thunder’s early season has been Dort’s offensive struggles.

The fourth-year guard entered Thursday shooting 13-of-51 (25.5 percent) from the field in four games this season. However, Dort nearly matched his season total in makes as he shot 9-of-15 from the field for a season-high 21 points.

The game was huge for Dort after his recent tough shooting performances. But for the 23-year-old, that hasn’t been a concern.

“I feel like my confidence is always going to stay up,” said Dort. “I’m gonna have some tough nights or whatever, but my confidence is always going to stay up.”

2. Aleksej Pokusevski flashes potential with efficient shooting Whenever Aleksej Pokusevski touched the ball, it garnered a mixed reception among fans at Paycom Center. The thirdyear player has been known to generate a wide range of results, both good and bad.

Against the Clippers, it was mostly positive on offense as he finished with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting, five rebounds and four assists.

After a solid preseason, Pokusevki struggled to start his third season. Just like his teammate Dort, Pokusevski’s performance was a much needed.

“I feel like Poku is getting better every single day,” said Dort. “He always has his confidence. Being able to be at the right spot and doing so much on the court to help... Tonight he came out big and hit some big shots.”

3. No free throws, no problem for Thunder The Thunder made some odd history on Thursday as it entered the fourth quarter without a single free throw attempt — the first time in franchise history.

Throughout the game, Thunder players and Daigneault voiced their frustrations and it looked like the crew finally got the message in the fourth quarter as the Thunder shot 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. The Clippers finished with 13 of 18 from the line.

“The free throws were a killer,” said Daigneault. “It was the fourth quarter before we shot free throws. That was crazy. I wasn’t particularly pleased with that... I just thought we played right through it tonight. It didn’t distract us.”

4. Gilgeous-Alexander struggles with foul trouble Daigneault made the bold move of sitting Gilgeous-Alexander to start the second half.

Not because of performance — he scored nine points in the first half — but because of foul trouble. He recorded four fouls in the first half.

Daigneault admitted that it’s rare to see players like Gilgeous-Alexander ride the bench to start a half regardless of foul trouble, but he credited the 24-year-old for his willingness to trust his teammates to keep the game close with him off the floor.

“I think the reason a lot of people don’t do it is they’re afraid of how the person is going to respond,” said Daigneault. “The thing about Shai is he’s got confidence in the team. Him moving out of double teams or him coming off of the bench in the second half is pretty special... It’s a testament to the trust that he has in the team and I thought the group that started the second half fed off that confidence because when you have somebody that’s moping around or protesting that sort of decision, that could bleed into the rest of the team, especially somebody that has the impact in our culture that he does. So that’s a huge credit to him.”

The Thunder outscored the Clippers 36-27 in the third quarter.

“The group did a great job at stepping up to the challenge,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.