OKLAHOMA CITY — Passing it out to the perimeter, Jalen Williams found Kenrich Williams for the 3-pointer. The outside shot pushed OKC’s lead to a game-high 28 points. That was enough for LA to clear its bench and wave the white flag with over seven minutes left.

The Oklahoma City Thunder collected a 116-98 win over the LA Clippers. OKC has extended its win streak to a franchise-record 13 in a row.

“Tonight, I was actually more impressed with our resolve,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “When things weren’t going well, the scoreboard wasn’t in our favor, the momentum wasn’t in our favor, that chip-away mentality, you need that when things aren’t going well. I thought that second quarter is what really won us the game tonight.”

The early stages of this contest certainly didn’t look like another blowout win for OKC. The Clippers finished the first quarter on a 12-2 run to exit it with a 30-22 advantage. The Thunder’s offense once again looked clunky to start.

The Thunder couldn’t buy a bucket from outside as they started 1-of-10 from deep. The Clippers were the opposite as they suddenly led by as many as 16 points. A quick eight straight points helped the Thunder stop the bleeding. They scored 26 points in the second frame as Williams hit a buzzer- beating floater to cut it to a manageable 52-48 halftime deficit.

Then, the signature OKC avalanche started. The third quarter has been the Thunder’s money quarter this season. After the break, they were rejuvenated and overwhelmed LA like they did the Minnesota Timberwolves in their New Year’s Eve win. Williams kept his momentum going. He scored on a driving layup. And then did it again. And again. He then stole the basketball from Ivica Zubac and fed Isaiah Hartenstein the easy dunk. Before the Clippers could even register what happened, the Thunder suddenly had a 56-55 lead less than two minutes into the third quarter.

The Thunder suffocated the Clippers with a decisive 27-7 run filled with LA turnovers and struggling to produce quality shots. OKC outscored it in the third quarter 42-20 to completely flip the scoreboard. They entered the third quarter in a six-point hole and exited with an 18-point cushion.

The fourth quarter became inconsequential. This was a surprising development considering how the game played out in the first half. Gilgeous-Alexander sat out the final frame. Williams and Hartenstein played less than five minutes in the quarter. It’s valuable rest for OKC on a tough back-to-back that it earned with defensive dominance.

The Thunder shot 50% from the field and went 14-of-38 (36.8%) from 3. They went 16-of-20 from the free-throw line. They had 29 assists on 43 baskets. Four Thunder players scored double-digit points. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with an efficient 29 points. Williams had 18 points thanks to a hot second half. Hartenstein stuffed the stat sheet with a near 11-point triple-double.

Meanwhile, the Clippers struggled without Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. They shot 47% from the field and went 11-of-32 (34.4%) from 3. They went 11-of-17 from the free-throw line. They had 25 assists on 38 baskets. Five Clippers players scored double-digit points.

Amir Coffey led the way with 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting and went 6-of-8 from 3. Zubac had 11 points and nine rebounds. Mo Bamba had 12 points and eight rebounds. Norman Powell was limited to six points on 1-of-11 shooting.

Once Harden was ruled out, this became an easy contest for the Thunder. The short-handed Clippers didn’t have their two best players and already struggled on offense. OKC took care of business after a sloppy start and turned this into a lopsided win thanks to a dominating third quarter.

“Only for the respect we have for the teams ahead of us,” Daigneault said on what the 13-game win streak means. “The teams ahead of us have set a great standard that we have high respect for. But we’re not sitting there counting records or winning streaks. We’re just attacking what’s right in front of us. We did a great job of that today with our preparation in the game. We’re going to wake up tomorrow. We have a zerogame win streak tomorrow.”

It was a fitting final bucket for Gilgeous-Alexander in a ho-hum performance. He finished with 29 points on 9-of-17 shooting, eight assists and three rebounds. He shot 2-of-5 from 3 and went 9-of-9 from the freethrow line.

Gilgeous-Alexander only logged 30 minutes before he sat out the fourth quarter. The Clippers blitzed the MVP candidate and forced him to be a facilitator. It’s a sound strategy on paper but fell apart as the game progressed. He finished with 14 points in the first half but exploded for 15 in the third quarter.

Jalen Williams finished with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting, four assists and three rebounds. He shot 1-of-3 from 3 and went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

On the opening play of the second half, Williams had a clear lane to the basket thanks to a Hartenstein screen. He scored on the layup. They again ran the same play with the same success. A minute later, the 23-year-old cut to the basket and was rewarded with a running layup as the seven-footer found him on a bounce pass.

Waiting for Gilgeous-Alexander to find a seam, Hartenstein collected two quick assists thanks to his patented bounce pass. Dunking, facilitating or rebounding, the seven- footer has been OKC’s most versatile starter.

Isaiah Hartenstein finished with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting, nine rebounds, six assists and two blocks.

On the other end, Hartenstein held Zubac to just 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Because of LA’s absences, it tried to give him additional scoring opportunities that didn’t work out. His scoring limitations were exposed without an elite playmaker.

The Thunder’s next game is the Boston Celtics at home Sunday the 5th. The game is set to start at 2:30 p.m.

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