OKLAHOMA CITY — Splitting a pair of free-throw attempts, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ended his night as the buzzer sounded at the end of the third quarter. That was all asked out of him in a mostly stress-free game. He clocked out of his shift earlier than expected. First time in a long time for the reigning MVP.

The Oklahoma City Thunder enjoyed a muchneeded runaway game with a 129-104 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a get-right performance as they returned to their dominant ways.

“I thought first half, OK. They played pretty well, too. First couple of minutes of the third quarter, OK. We really cranked up the pressure and helped and did so with discipline. It wasn’t reckless,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought we really tuned up there and did a really good job at making everything hard for them. It led to some offensive rhythm for us.”

That wasn’t the case early on, though. Don’t get me wrong, the Thunder offense was rolling. It looked elementary out there. Guys were in a groove. Isaiah Hartenstein fed a bounce pass to Jalen Williams on the baseline cut for the open dunk. The only problem is that the Sixers had the same fun on their end.

Tyrese Maxey was unstoppable from the jump. He made Lu Dort and Alex Caruso look incredibly slow. He was too fast for OKC’s perimeter defenders as he blew by them for layups. The Thunder had a 32-29 lead after the first quarter.

The second quarter saw much of the same. The Thunder offense was humming along, but so was the Sixers when they had the ball. Maxey had an unreal 23 points in the first half. It’s impressive enough when an undersized ball-handler puts that up in any game against the league-best defense. Much less in one half.

The Thunder scored 32 points in the second frame. They entered halftime with a 64-62 lead over the Sixers. Paired with a puppet halftime show that had the entire OKC crowd quiet and confused, there were some pretty bizarro vibes from the first half.

Eventually, the Thunder returned to their defensive ways. There was a shift in the second half. Playing elite one-on-one defense, Caruso forced Maxey to put up a Hail Mary attempt from deep. Gilgeous-Alexander went the other way for the underhanded layup. Chet Holmgren hunted for his shot. They scored 38 points in the third frame to create some cushion on the scoreboard.

The Thunder had a 102-86 lead over the Sixers. Besides a couple of injury scares, everything was going right. Gilgeous-Alexander rested in the final frame. They scored 27 points in the final frame to fluff up the final margin. Hooray for the net rating and point differential sickos. They led by as many as 27 points.

The Thunder shot 58% from the field and went 10-of-28 (35.7%) from 3. They shot 19-of-25 on free throws. They had 27 assists on 50 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 27 points and five assists. Holmgren had an efficient 29 points and nine rebounds. Williams tallied 14 points, six assists and four rebounds. Ajay Mitchell had 13 points and three assists in his return. Aaron Wiggins scored 15 points.

Meanwhile, the Sixers shot 42% from the field and went 17-of-43 (39.5%) from 3. They shot 17-of-21 on free throws. They had 21 assists on 35 baskets. Seven Sixers players scored double-digit points.

Maxey led the way with an efficient 28 points and five assists. Paul George had 12 points and four rebounds in his return to OKC. VJ Edgecombe struggled with 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting. Quentin Grimes had 13 points and three assists. Adem Bona tallied 11 points and eight rebounds. Justin Edwards scored 12 points. Jared McCain had 10 points and four rebounds.

Back to business as usual for the Thunder. The Sixers have been a cute story this season, but the reigning NBA champions are several tiers ahead. They snapped a two-game losing streak as a nice palate cleanser after their Christmas Day debacle. The defense needs to be tightened better throughout the entire game, but OKC showed it can still flip the switch when needed.

The Thunder finally grabbed a win with the starting lineup that won them an NBA championship last year. Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren looked like a pair of future All-Star teammates in about two months. A strong second half put this one away and allowed viewers to tune back into their NFL action. Boring, but good stuff from OKC.

“The first framework is, are we competing at the level we have to? The second framework is, are we executing at the fundamentals we have to? Usually, if you’re doing those two things, it takes you a long way,” Daigneault said. “Sometimes, the really good players and teams, you have to adjust off that. But that’s where the conversation starts. I thought we did a really good job in the second half doing those two things.”

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