3 Takeaways From OKC Thunder's Injury-Filled Win Over Milwaukee Bucks

The matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks Monday night looked a little bit different than it did in the NBA Cup Final.

Not only was it different in that Oklahoma City got the upper hand this time, but neither roster was at 100% capability. The Thunder had to roll out without Jalen Williams nor Cason Wallace, but for the Bucks, it was even worse. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez were all out of action.

That allowed it to be a simple win for Oklahoma City, blowing Milwaukee out by nearly 30 points en route to its 39th victory of the regular season. Without two starters, plenty members of the bench unit filled in the gaps left.

Here are three takeaways from the 125-96 win:

Stepping Up

Without Williams and Wallace, coach Mark Daigneault opted to start Aaron Wiggins and Kenrich Williams as their replacements. While Kenrich struggled with four points on 2-of-9 shooting, Wiggins provided 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

On the bench unit, it gets even more impressive. Ousmane Dieng had his best performance of the regular season, finishing the night with a season-high of 21 points, a career-high eight rebounds and a season-high five assists on 9-of-13 shooting in 31 minutes of action.

Though opportunities don't come every game for Dieng to succeed to this level, he rose to the occasion when it was available.

"This was the third year he touched the G League… Didn’t say a word about it. Just put his head down and went to work," Daigneault said. "I thought tonight was a by-product of that work. He deserves a lot of credit... for his professionalism.”

That's not to mention Isaiah Joe and Jaylin Williams too, who each had strong performances. Joe dropped 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range, while Williams added 13 points and seven rebounds.

Doing Without Free Throws

As much as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets harped on for the frequency of his free throw attempts, it was hardly a factor in last night's win.

The MVP candidate recorded 34 points, three rebounds and six assists on 15-of-19 shooting from the field. His final total from the free-throw line? Just 2-of-3.

It wasn't just Gilgeous-Alexander who didn't get to the charity stripe at a high rate; none of the Thunder roster did. As a collective, it finished 7-of-8, which is very much unlike how it usually performs on free throws. As for the Bucks, they had the advantage with 13-of-21 shooting.

Though circumstantially Oklahoma City had an easy job to do, the offense performing to the level it did with only seven made free throws to spare is mightily impressive. It shot 16-of-41 from behind the arc, while also scoring 62 points in the paint.

Free throws are usually integral to the Thunder's success, but the win is proof that it isn't always a necessity.

Just Another Win

When it comes down to it, this game didn't really add a whole lot to Oklahoma City's regular season campaign.

It brought the Thunder's record to 39-9, helping it likely follow the Cleveland Cavaliers as the first two teams to reach 40 wins. The win was in dominating fashion, saw several strong performances and got one up on the team that took it down in the NBA Cup Final.

With how depleted Milwaukee was, however, there can't be much of a strong reaction to the win. If Oklahoma City would've taken it down in this fashion with Antetokounmpo and Lillard available, that would've been a completely different story. But with a lineup consisting of little offensive threats, most teams could've blown the Bucks out.

The Thunder didn't need to prove anything with this win, though. It's the clear favorite in the Western Conference, and the NBA has gotten to see the historic defense and MVP play from Gilgeous-Alexander these last few months.

Of course, Oklahoma City taking down a full-strength Milwaukee team would be feat it strives for. It'll get another opportunity to accomplish that March 16 on the road.

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