Three Takeways From The OKC Thunder’s Rebound Win Over The Washington Wizards

After losing two straight games in its Eastern Conference road trip, the Oklahoma City Thunder picked up a needed win.

The Oklahoma City Thunder got its rebound victory.

The Eastern Conference road trip hasn’t been kind to the Thunder, as it dropped two games to the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets after a win at home over the Boston Celtics.

Washington was a different story, as it narrowly defeated the Washington Wizards 136-128. It wasn't pretty, but the job was done to get Oklahoma City back on a winning track. The trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams did most of the work, combining for 84 points on the night. 

Here are three takeaways from the victory:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Bilal Coulibaly, Washington Wizards / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

An Elite Trio

Throughout the young NBA season, Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren and Williams have asserted themselves as one of the NBA’s most talented trios. 

Gilgeous-Alexander put up 32 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals on 11-of-17 shooting, continue his strong MVP campaign. He also got to the free-throw line on five occasions, knocking down of 8-of-10 attempts. 

Holmgren had one of his best performances of his Rookie of the Year caliber season, scoring 31 points, four rebounds, five assists and two blocks on an incredibly efficient 11-of-14 shooting night, including 4-of-5 shooting from behind the arc. 

Willliams had another fantastic performance, scoring 21 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists and two steals on 9-of-13 shooting. He's truly coming into his own as one of Oklahoma City's top scoring options, completing a big three that could dominate the league for several years to come.

With a 24-11 record and No. 2 seed positioning in the West, the trio has the success and winning numbers to prove itself as one of the best in the entire NBA. It consists of an MVP candidate, Rookie of the Year candidate and one of the most improved players of last season, which gives the Thunder plenty of hope for the future. 

Defensive Troubles

Although Oklahoma City has been one of the stronger defenses in the league so far this season, struggles have started to emerge in recent games. 

Against one of the least efficient offenses in the NBA, it gave up 128 points and were barely behind the Wizards for most of the game. Jordan Poole led them with 24 points and five assists on 8-of-17 shooting, while Kyle Kuzma came close with 22 points and 15 rebounds on 10-of-24 shooting. 

Washington shot 15-of-32 from the three-point line, and got to the line at a high rate by shooting 25-of-29 attempts. While a 49.4% shooting night from the field isn't anything impressive for the Wizards, it found ways to score and stay within a close distance all night. 

The Thunder will have to get back to preventing offenses from having high-scoring nights if it wants to stay in its same position in the West, as the Denver Nuggets are breathing right down their necks from 0.5 games back.

A Troubling Performance 

The player whose performance this season has most vastly questioned is Josh Giddey, and his outing against the Wizards was full of variables. 

Giddey recorded nine points, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals on just 4-of-11 shooting and zero trips to the free-throw line. The most impressive stat of the night was his box plus/minus of positive 22, tied for a team-best with Williams. But his overall statline showed little in having a high-impact on the team.

There's no doubt his playmaking ability is strong, but an overly high usage rating and string of inefficient shooting nights put his impact on the Thunder in question. His name has been thrown in trade rumors throughout the season, but with Oklahoma City seemingly staying pat, Giddey will likely finish the season off with it. 

To really assert himself as a major player when it comes to the playoffs, Giddey will have to become an efficient scorer. If not, getting crunch time minutes are going to be hard to come by, which has been shown throughout much of the season. 

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The win over Washington gives Thunder some momentum to finish out its Eastern Conference trip, which it will need heading into a matchup with an Eastern Conference Finals contending team.

Oklahoma City will travel to Miami to matchup with the Heat on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. CT at Kaseya Center.

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