THUNDER WIRE Taking on Gary Trent Jr., Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drove left before he spun right and scored on a short fadeaway mid-range jumper. Flexing his creativity, the MVP candidate only needed one hand to flick the shot through the basket. Just a ridiculous bucket where you see his mind as an artist on the hardwood.

The Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Milwaukee Bucks in a 121-105 win. It completed a threegame sweep of their gauntlet road trip against Eastern Conference playoff squads.

“It’s a great team win. Gutsy, on the second night of a back-to-back in a long stretch of the schedule mostly on the road,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “One the team can be proud of.”

Both teams were deadlocked with each other to start. The Bucks left the first quarter with a slight 26-24 lead. The low-scoring first frame looked like a video game simulation compared to what happened next. The Thunder went on a 29-15 scoring run in the second quarter to build a double-digit lead.

After Giannis Antetkounmpo got Chet Holmgren to bite on a pump-fake for the reverse jam, the Bucks went scoreless in nearly the final five minutes of the first half. The Thunder entered halftime with a 53-41 halftime lead. Isaiah Hartenstein and Holmgren manned the second-unit lineups against the big Bucks.

After Hartenstein scored on a floater and Kenrich Williams stole the ball to feed Holmgren for the layup, the Bucks quickly called a timeout less than a minute into the second half. That didn’t do much as the Thunder scored 39 points in the third quarter. OKC exited the frame with a controlling 92-74 lead.

With their bench lineup, the Thunder didn’t take long to balloon their lead to 25 points. Isaiah Joe converted an outside look and they were suddenly up 99-74 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. With a lead that large, the final 10 minutes became trivial.

The Bucks crowd slowly dwindled and the rest of the contest turned into a stat-padding fest where Antetokounmpo chased after a triple-double and Gilgeous-Alexander checked back in to cross the 30-point mark. Milwaukee prettied up the final score at the end, but don’t let it fool you.

The Thunder shot 52% from the field and went 10-of-29 (34.5%) from 3. They shot 19-of-25 on free throws. They had 30 assists on 46 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 31 points and eight assists. Hartenstein had a 24-point double-double. Holmgren finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Joe scored 19 points off the bench. Alex Caruso had 10 points and five assists.

Meanwhile, the Bucks shot 40% from the field and went 13-of-34 (38.2%) from 3. They shot 26-of-33 on free throws. They had 21 assists on 33 baskets. Five Bucks players scored double-digit points. Antetokounmpo was held to 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Damian Lillard had 19 points on 3-of-9 shooting. Kyle Kuzma scored 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Gary Trent Jr. had 12 points and Kevin Porter Jr. had 11 points off the bench.

Considering how tall the Bucks’ lineup is, the Thunder likely had this matchup circled to test their Holmgren-Hartenstein duo. After inconsistent beginnings, it’s fair to say they fit well together against large and physical frontcourts. In terms of the actual result, blowing out the Bucks should never be overlooked. But OKC has made it easy to do so this season.

“I thought both ends tonight was really good and it’s improved over the course of the amount of games that we’ve done it,” Daigneault said on the double-big lineup. “Which is expected. They’re good players, they’re impactful players, they wanna get it right. They work together, they work inside the team. It’s no surprise that it’s definitely improved.”

Next up for the Thunder is the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday at home at 7 p.m.