OKC Thunder Edges Washington Wizards On Road Behind Chet Holmgren's Big Night

Chet Holmgren's third-career 30-point game helped the Oklahoma City Thunder maintain a steady lead nearly the entire game as it secured a road win to break a two-game skid.

After losing two straight games to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks, the Oklahoma City Thunder hit the road to Washington D.C. to face a struggling Washing Wizards team looking for a get-right win before facing the the Miami Heat. 

Being on the road is never easy, but the Thunder played a closer game than it had likely hoped for through all four quarters, but did eventually sneak out with a victory to get back in the winning column. And that was largely due to Chet Holmgren.

The Thunder rookie led the charge for both Oklahoma City's offense and defense, notching 31 points and four rebounds and five assists on 79-percent shooting to pair with a couple of blocks. He came up big for his third 30-point game of the season as the Thunder secured a 136-128 victory over Washington. 

The Wizards were led by their usual duo of Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma, who combined for 46 points to lead the way for the team. Behind them was Tyus Jones, who scored 18 points of his own as a part of a strong starting-unit performance, but ultimately, it wasn't enough to overcome the visiting Thunder.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) dunks the ball as Washington Wizards forward Deni Avdija (8) looks on in the first quarter at Capital One Arena / © Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

From the jump, both teams went back and forth on the scoring end. Kuzma kicked things off for Washington with a 20-foot jump shot while Josh Giddey responded with a floater of his own to even the score. From there, the Thunder mounted a small lead behind Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who notched a team second-best 30 points of his own on the evening — and Luguentz Dort, building an 18-10 cushion within five minutes.

The rest of the quarter followed suit, as Oklahoma City continued to find the bottom of the bucket to maintain a firm lead. Washington tried to stay within striking distance, and that it did, but never was able to take a lead as it headed to the second quarter down six. 

And the second 12 minutes told much of the same story.

Holmgren notched one of his two blocks in the period while continuing to lay in on from inside the paint — a big part of how Oklahoma City was able to manage a 24-point differential from that area. Gilgeous-Alexander and the other Thunder starters helped keep their team out front, and by time the second-half buzzer sounded, the same lead remained. 

Oklahoma City started the second half strong, once again behind Holmgren, as the rookie made a two-way statement with a block and near-foul on the other end.

Showing strength on both ends 💪 pic.twitter.com/danxVVTjr9

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 9, 2024

Holmgren helped increase Oklahoma City's lead beyond the six-point gap that seemed immoveable to that point, and the battle continued on throughout the third quarter. It wasn't until under a minute remained that the Wizards cut the lead down, as Kuzma hit a layup to bring his team within three points before Gilgeous-Alexander once again responded to keep the Thunder up by five at the end of the third.

The fourth quarter saw little movement between the two teams, as the Thunder continued to lay it on the Wizards with its bench unit, and by the time the final minute was reached, the end result was all-but official, as Oklahoma City secured a 136-128 victory on the road.

With the win, the Thunder improve to 24-11 on the season and maintain possession of the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference behind both the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves. 

Next up for Oklahoma City is a road trip to Miami to face a Miami Heat team in need of consistency. A win there would spark a two-game win streak as the Thunder search for more success after a recent skid. 

Tipoff from Kaseya Center is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST Wednesday.

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