OKLAHOMA CITY – Well, that was fun.
In easily their most impressive win of the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder blew out the Boston Celtics in an historic display of offense, 150-117.
In what looked like a nearly guaranteed loss after the late scratch of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder not only turned in their best performance of the season — but arguably their best performance in franchise history.
The Thunder set a franchise record for most points in a game (150). They were able to do that in regulation!
The Thunder finished with five players who scored at least 20 points for only the second time in franchise history. The Thunder held a season-high 37-point lead at one point.
The Thunder did all this without their best player and essentially their entire frontcourt! It was hard to believe what was actually happening at Paycom Center. It felt like everything was going perfectly for the Thunder throughout.
The Thunder shot an absurd 58-of-98 (59.2%) from the field and 20-of-40 (50%) from 3. The Thunder finished with 31 assists and did a great job at sharing the wealth. Of the 10 available players, seven scored at least 10 points. No one scored more than 25.
Outside of Darius Bazley, everybody was a positive in the plus-minus department, which indicates the Thunder had control of this game throughout the entire 48 minutes.
The large patches of green among the OKC crowd slowly disappeared as Thunder fans let their excitement be heard in the arena with loud jolts of energy being injected every other possession.
Overall, this was one of the most fun nights in the Mark Daigneault era. That it happened against a title contender in the Celtics — who entered the night with the best net rating — AND without their best player makes it feel surreal.
To celebrate the impressive win, let’s hand out grades for the five 20-point scorers for the Thunder.
Spoiler alert: It’s all A’s.