It took a little more effort than anticipated, but the Oklahoma City Thunder picked up a much-needed win over the Washington Wizards, 136-128.
After going through a two-game skid, the Thunder returned to their winning ways by getting a victory over one of the worst teams in the league. Even though the Wizards have a bottom-three record, they made it tough for OKC throughout the contest.
“We had to run through the finish line for sure,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said on the win. “We kept building leads and couldn’t get away from them. They made timely plays and timely shots and played all the way through. So obviously, we had to do that too and we did.”
Both teams were offensive juggernauts in this contest as they continued to exchange buckets throughout all four quarters. The Thunder built a 36-30 lead following the first quarter. At halftime, it stayed at a six-point lead following both teams having 31-point second frames.
Coming out of the break, the third quarter featured both teams putting up monster scoring numbers — OKC tallied 36 points and Washington 35 points. Neither team collected stops as the Thunder entered the final frame leading, 102-97.
The final frame saw the Wizards cut it to as little as six points multiple times, but OKC always answered back and kept a healthy distance on the scoreboard.
Overall, the Thunder shot 59% from the field and went 14-of-28 (50%) from 3. OKC collected a season-high 37 assists on 52 baskets. Ball security was a bit of a problem as it had 15 turnovers.
The Thunder were led by a pair of efficient 30-point scorers in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 32 points on 17 shots while Holmgren had 31 points on 14 shots.
Jalen Williams also contributed with a 21-point and 10-assist double-double. OKC’s bench produced 36 points with a pair of double-digit scorers in Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins.
“I thought we had a really, really good floor game,” Daigneault said on the offensive outing. “Really good blend. Good pace up the floor; good side moving it side-to-side; good job playing it together inside the actions… I thought it was a really, really sound offensive effort.”
The offense keeps humming along, but OKC’s defense continues to show leakage in its current road trip. It’s given up an average of 131 points in its last three contests.
In the Wizards’ case, they shot 49% from the field and went 15-of-32 (46.9%) from 3. They also went 25-of-29 from the free-throw line. Washington dished out 32 assists on 44 baskets.
“They hit some tough ones down the stretch too,” Williams said on the Wizards’ offense. “You just gotta tip your hat to those. Think we got some crucial stops, a couple in a row, and then we were kinda able to stretch the lead.”
The Wizards had six players score double-digit points. Kyle Kuzma had 22 points and 15 rebounds; Jordan Poole had 24 points and five assists; Tyus Jones collected 18 points and nine assists.
“I thought tonight’s game was a lot different than the last two, to be honest with you,” Daigneault said on their recent defensive performances. “I thought our intensity and how hard we played tonight was much, much better.
“There were times in those other two games where we gave up a lot of unearned stuff and I didn’t think much tonight was unearned. There were certainly possessions but we made them earn it.”
By the end of the night, the Thunder never truly created a lopsided score as their largest lead was 13 points, but they also never surrendered the lead following the opening minutes.
It was a necessary win, but defensive concerns continue to exist for OKC during this recent stretch. The Thunder managed to get away with it against the Wizards, but this will need to get cleaned up once the quality of the opponent improves.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.