OKC Thunder Have Little Trouble, Cruise Past Bucks at Home
In its third straight win as the regular season comes to a close, the Oklahoma City Thunder demolished a Greek Freak-less Milwaukee Bucks.
Lightning didn't strike the Oklahoma City Thunder twice.
After it fell to the Milwuakee Bucks on March 24 in a below 100 point effort, the Thunder gained some revenge tonight, defeating the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed 125-107.
Oklahoma City's "big three" was the main catalyst for the victory, each having a strong individual performance. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one block. Although the Bucks defense handled the MVP candidate well — holding him to 7-of-21 shooting and 0-of-7 shooting from the 3-point line — but it was still good enough to get a win.
Chet Holmgren had the best overall performance of the night, 22 points, nine rebounds, three assists, one steal and three blocks on 9-of-13. Without Giannis Antetokounmpo it allowed the rookie to flourish, going up against Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis considerably well.
Jalen Williams also had a solid outing, recording 17 points, two rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block on 7-of-12 shooting. Aaron Wiggins had a highly efficient 19 points off the bench, while Gordon Hayward secured the starting spot. Although he only scored six points, he made a solid impact at the shooting guard spot.
It was quite the offensive first quarter for both sides, but Oklahoma City's 41 points edged out Milwuakee's 34. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams scored 14 and 11 points respectively, immediately making a high impact in an important game.
The Thunder only built on its lead in the second quarter. After letting the Bucks get back into the game a little bit at the start, the Oklahoma City went on a 16-6 lead to close out the final six minutes of the half. Much of the damage was done by Aaron Wiggins, who scored nine out of the 16 points.
Milwaukee started off the second half much stronger than it did in the third, but the Thunder still kept up a similar pace it had throughout the contest. Holmgren really started to get it going with seven points in a matter of three minutes. The Bucks did come out of it as the highest-scoring offense by the end, but it was just by three points.
The Milwaukee offense crumbled even further in the fourth quarter, allowing Oklahoma City to blow it out of the water with ease, bringing its record up to 56-25.
The Thunder will follow up by playing the Dallas Mavericks (50-30) on Sunday, April 14 at 2:30 p.m. CT in its final game of the regular season.
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