Shai Gilgeous-Alexander overcame a slow start to score 41 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder powered to a 123-105 home win over the Washington Wizards on Monday.
The Thunder extended their regular-season winning streak to eight, their longest winning streak since January 2018.
Oklahoma City hasn’t had a longer streak since the 2013-14 season.
Though the Monday game featured the Thunder, with the top record in the Western Conference, against the team with the worst record in the NBA, it was far from a cake walk.
Gilgeous-Alexander had just two points in the first quarter, when he attempted just three shots.
However, Gilgeous-Alexander got going in the second quarter, including kicking off a 15-0 Oklahoma City run with a 3-pointer. The surge turned the Wizards’ eight-point lead into a seven-point margin for the Thunder.
It was a lead Oklahoma City would not relinquish, though Washington kept it close deep into the third quarter.
The Wizards pulled within one with less than three minutes remaining in the third, but Gilgeous-Alexander attacked the basket at the other end, converting a three-point play to stretch the margin.
The play wound up kickstarting a 22-2 run as Washington went more than eight minutes without a field goal.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished 14 of 25 from the field and made all 10 of his free throws.
Jalen Williams added 17 points for Oklahoma City, scoring 11 in the first quarter. Isaiah Hartenstein (16 points, 11 rebounds) and rookie Ajay Mitchell (16 points, 12 rebounds, both career highs) each had a double-double. It was Mitchell’s first career double-double and the 10th in 13 games this season for Hartenstein.
Jordan Poole led Washington with 31 points and seven assists. Carlton Carrington scored 14 points, Jonas Valanciunas logged 12 points and 16 rebounds, Malcolm Brogdon also had 12 and Kyshawn George scored 11.
Oklahoma City outscored the Wizards 66-36 in the paint.
The Wizards have lost 21 of their last 23 and have dropped 12 consecutive road games.
Oklahoma City has won three consecutive games since falling in the NBA Cup final to the Milwaukee Bucks. That loss did not count in the regular-season standings.
Washington was without a couple of key pieces.
Bilal Coulibaly, who has been surging of late, missed the game because of right groin soreness while rookie Alexandre Sarr was out due to lower back soreness.
