Ajay Mitchell 'loved' how OKC teammates had his back after Rayan Rupert's flagrant foul

As Ajay Mitchell drove to the basket, Rayan Rupert had to resort to a physical foul to prevent the layup. That sparked a little bit of a scuffle. While Mitchell was working on his free-throw form, his OKC teammates had a full head of steam. They confronted Portland over the foul that was eventually upgraded to a flagrant.

You can't knock Mitchell off his groove. He finished with 20 points on 8-of-8 shooting, four assists and one rebound. He shot 2-of-2 from 3 and went 2-of-4 on free throws. He also had two steals.

The Oklahoma City Thunder served some sweet revenge for their sole loss of the season in a 122-95 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

A perfect performance from Mitchell. He needed it after being in a small funk. Just like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he did it by driving to the basket. Once he saw a few shots go in, that gave him a power-up in confidence. Eventually, the outside jumpers fell too.

Mitchell is all business. He didn't care for Rupert's aggressive foul. All he was attentive to was the scoreboard. The 23-year-old has been laser-focused all season. Of course, when you're constantly blowing out teams, you don't have energy to waste in extracurricular activities.

After a review, the referees announced that Rupert was handed a flagrant foul for pulling on Mitchell's jersey when he was in the air. Isaiah Hartenstein was handed a technical foul for escalating the situation as he hustled over to confront the Trail Blazers.

The technical foul was well worth it. Hartenstein and Alex Caruso both showed they weren't cool with the dangerous and reckless play — even if there was no ill intent behind it. Mitchell appreciated it, too.

"I thought it was a foul. Just move on. Get ready for the free throws. Teammates have my back, which I always love. But I wasn't really mad or anything," Mitchell said. "Obviously, hard foul, but it's basketball."

Mitchell has helped the Thunder juggle their injuries. He's been a consistent double-digit scorer. He typically balloons the lead in the bench lineup minutes this season. It's exactly what OKC needed with its championship roster.

"We try to play the same way for 48 minutes. We've been doing that forever. I think that's really important for us because we want to keep building," Mitchell said. "Every single game is an opportunity to get better. No matter what the score is, that's what we're focused on."

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Ajay Mitchell addresses Rayan Rupert's flagrant foul