OKC THUNDER WIRE - As the scoreboard got out of hand, the only drama left would be if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his historic 20-point streak. Taking a backseat all night, the reigning MVP looked like he wouldn’t reach the mark for the first time in 87 games. Alas, a step back 3-pointer and a freethrow line trip secured that caveat.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had another blowout with a 126-109 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Business as usual for the reigning NBA champions against a bottom-of-the-barrel team that fired its head coach before Thanksgiving.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “But we certainly played our best basketball early and to start the third as well.”

Early on, the Thunder made history. They quickly built up a daunting lead. Lu Dort had a get-right moment with a few outside buckets that finally went in. Chet Holmgren utilized his size to go to the post and score easy layups. They had a 49-24 lead after the first quarter. That was the most opening frame points OKC has ever had.

To lead by 25 points is one thing. But to do it after one quarter? That requires an insane level of incompetence by one side. It felt like the Thunder would perhaps double-up the Pelicans on the scoreboard the entire way. Instead, they played around with their food too much. Throwing a few too many behindthe- back passes.

The Thunder slowly saw their 20-plus point lead disappear. Trey Murphy III and Jeremiah Fears led a comeback attempt. The Pelicans scored 32 points in the second frame. Meanwhile, OKC couldn’t muster up decent offense as the bench lineup committed bad shot attempts or avoidable turnovers.

The Thunder only had a 69-56 lead at halftime. A little frustrating, considering how the game started. Yves Missi loudly denied Ajay Mitchell’s layup attempt at the buzzer to sum up how the second quarter went. The scattered New Orleans crowd made noise for the first time all night.

And then the Thunder had enough. They came out of the halftime break energized after a sluggish frame. Sending doubles at Gilgeous-Alexander, he beat New Orleans’ zone defense by passing it out to the perimeter for open looks. It didn’t take long for OKC to get its lead back up to 20-plus points.

As Gilgeous-Alexander crossed 20 points once again, the Thunder had a 105-80 lead after the third quarter. They scored a sizzling 36 points in that frame to regain control. He wasn’t required to play another fourth quarter. It was another drama-less final frame as OKC and New Orleans put up some garbage-time stats. The former had 27 points. It led by as many as 30 points in the wire-to-wire win.

The Thunder shot 49% from the field and went 17-of-42 (40.5%) from 3. They shot 23-of-28 on free throws. They had 30 assists on 43 baskets. Six Thunder players scored double-digit points.