Stiles Points: OKC Thunder Did What Great Teams Do

The Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Washington Wizards and made them look like the Washington Generals. The Thunder continue to do what Great teams do.

Jan 12, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots the ball as Washington Wizards forward Alexandre Sarr (20) defends in the third quarter at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Oklahoma City walked into the Nation's Capitol as 16.5 point favorites, a lofty spread even by these standards - a title contender taking on a tanking squad - but in the midst of a lengthy East Coast road trip, there is always the possibility for a let down.

That let down never came. The Thunder took this tired game and smothered the life out of it from the word go with a near wire-to-wire victory, swelling a 44 point win over Washington before posting a 136-95 win.

Its the six win Wizards, what's the big deal? You think to yourself reading this and that is far. However, of those six wins, the Wiz Kids have taken the Denver Nuggets down to the wire and the New York Knicks to overtime.

The Thunder were primed for ho-hum, play with your food, game. That did not happen. Oklahoma City walked its way to another blow out win taking care of business on the road and sweeping the season series over the Wizards.

That is what great teams do. In the midst of an 82 game campaign, not having let downs and not cracking the door open to be brought to the brink by bad teams.

The Thunder are 32-6 and by every metric a great team. This forgettable win shows why. There are no reactions - overreaction or underrreactions - to a game like this. Just a simple business trip to D.C..

Stiles Points

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander joined the 10,000 point club in the NBA and is closing in on 10,000 points with just the OKC Thunder franchise.
Seven members of the OKC Thunder cracked double-digits in the score column in this game.
Jaylin Williams had one of his better games of the season, dishing dimes and hauling in rebounds with nine points to boot.
Kenrich Williams cracked 10 points going 2-for-4 from beyond the arc, continuing the best stretch of his career.
Cason Wallace shows why he has won the starting job for Mark Daigneault. On top of the shooting turning around for him, the tone setting defense and ability to read the floor alongside the starting group lets the Thunder get off to hot starts.

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