Several hours before the ball was even thrown up for tipoff, the result was known. After their head coach was surprisingly transparent about how far away they are from the reigning NBA champions, Golden State elected to punt this national TV matchup.

The Oklahoma City Thunder enjoyed a stress-free 131-94 win over the Golden State Warriors. The latter was without Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. When you throw your B squad to an NBA win machine, this is the result.

“They made a little run, but thought from box to wire, it was just a really consistent effort,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s a game that really good teams lose. That’s a game that really good teams can win, but don’t get better in the game. I thought tonight we went out, earned a win, got better, built our habits. So it was a really professional win by the team.”

No funny business was involved in this one. The Thunder got ahead from the jump. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t need to spend too much currency to get going. They had a 34-23 lead after the first quarter. Considering who was on the floor for the Warriors, they had zero real self-scorers.

After the Warriors cut it to a single-digit deficit, the Thunder went on a game-sealing 19-0 run in the second frame. Chet Holmgren took over on both ends. Golden State’s role players were uncomfortable when they drove against him. And they were uncomfortable when he was a second-chance bucket magnet.

The Thunder scored 30 points in the second quarter. Lu Dort swished a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer. They entered halftime with a commanding 64-45 lead over the Warriors. Any fears of lifting their foot off the gas were quickly calmed down. They kept it up in the second half.

The third quarter was much of the same story. The Thunder ballooned their lead with a 31-point frame. Gilgeous-Alexander reached his signature 30 points in three frames. Holmgren continues to make up ground in the block leader department with four rejections to complement a double-double.

This game lost interest pretty fast. Amazon Prime had to call an audible and bring on Chris Mullin to retell some of his old stories and get his thoughts on OKC and Golden State. Little was said about the actual game on the floor. I don’t blame them, either. The Thunder had a 95-66 lead after the third frame.

The Thunder padded their point differential with a 36-point fourth quarter. They led by as many as 41 points. Yep, you read that right. Things got ugly pretty quickly as OKC’s end-of-bench players entered with fresh legs while Golden State’s counterparts had their stamina meter blinking with a Gatorade logo. It was a good night for the net rating enthusiasts.

The Thunder shot 52% from the field and went 16-of-38 (42.1%) from 3. They shot 19-of-19 on free throws. They had 34 assists on 48 baskets. Seven Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander had an efficient 30 points and seven assists. Holmgren finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks. Jalen Williams had 12 points and six rebounds. Dort scored 11 points. Ajay Mitchell had 11 points and six assists. Aaron Wiggins scored 15 points. Branden Carlson tallied a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double.

Meanwhile, the Warriors shot 36% from the field and went 13-of-44 (29.5%) from 3. They shot 17-of-23 on free throws. They had 23 assists on 32 baskets. Six Warriors players scored double-digit points.

Brandin Podziemski finished with 12 points and four rebounds. Al Horford had 13 points and six rebounds. Will Richard scored 13 points. Moses Moody tallied 13 points. Quinten Post had 11 points. Buddy Hield scored 11 points.

Well, this was a gimme once the Warriors waved the white flag hours before fans were even allowed into the arena. The Thunder continue to beat up on the bottom half of the league. Any intrigue of this matchup was lost when Golden State threw its young players to the deep end of the pool without any swimming lessons.

The Thunder remain the NBA’s best teams. After a little bit of Christmas slippage, they’ve returned to their winning ways. Gilgeous-Alexander continues to roll along what will likely be his second straight MVP campaign. Something Curry did at the top of Golden State’s powers.

“The last two games, we’ve put together very complete 48-minute efforts where our identity was in full force and our fundamentals were strong and our consistency in those things was throughout the game,” Daigneault said. “It takes discipline for a team to continue to improve even when you get positive outcomes, but this team has great maturity in that way.”

Let’s look at Thunder player grades:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus

Toying with Pat Spencer, Gilgeous-Alexander slammed on the brakes. A behind-the-back dribble created enough momentum for the reigning MVP to swish in an elbow jumper. Things were too easy for him as Golden State was a primed opportunity to pretty up your gaudy stats.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 30 points on 10-of-20 shooting, seven assists and one rebound. He shot 3-of-5 from 3 and went 7-of-7 on free throws. All in three quarters, too. He clocked out earlier than scheduled once again.

The low-leverage environment barely had Gilgeous-Alexander break a sweat. When fully healthy, the Warriors are already significantly slower compared to the Thunder. Throw in a sea-sized talent gap, and you turn down the difficulty level to rookie mode.

Not wanting to add unnecessary mileage to his legs, Gilgeous-Alexander kept his drives short and sweet. Instead, the reigning MVP relied on his unmatched jumper. He pulled up from inside the paint. A couple of other times, he got to his spots at the baseline. Sprinkle in a couple of outside jumpers, and the 50-40-90 shooting splits ambition remains alive.

As the Thunder doubled their lead and then some, Gilgeous-Alexander had 14 points in the third frame. The only urgency left was if he’d reach 30 points through three quarters. He finally crossed that line. It was another game where he was able to rest on the bench.

At this point, this is what Gilgeous-Alexander does. He continues to be a walking 30-point machine. It’s a bummer for the average viewer that we didn’t get to see a classic showdown between him and Curry, but you take the win regardless if you’re OKC.

It was quite the day for Gilgeous-Alexander. With a trophy case already stuffed to the max, Gilgeous-Alexander received a couple of new accolades before the Thunder blew out the Warriors. The first was being named the Sports Illustrated 2025 Sportsperson of the Year. He reflected on the yearly honor and what it meant to him.

“It’s special. The names on that list are insanely impressive. They respect the greatest of all time in their respective fields. It’s all a blessing. All the hard work I put in has paid off. I’m reaping the benefits,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Shoutout to the people that helped me get here. My teammates that obviously go to war with me every night, help me play at this level. It takes a village, so I’m very thankful.”

Chet Holmgren: A-plus

Licking his lips at Spencer going up, Holmgren was ready for another easy block. Instead, the Golden State two-way player nervously passed it out to Trayce Jackson-Davis at the dunker spot. A quick rotation later, the seven-footer recovered fast enough to reject the shot attempt.

Holmgren finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 15 rebounds and four assists. He shot 1-of-3 from 3 and went 4-of-4 on free throws. He also had four blocks and one steal.

Considering who was in Golden State’s frontcourt, Holmgren had it easy. Nobody could stop him at the rim. It made it easy for his teammates to throw him the ball for a couple of elementary dunks. The outside jumper also fell for him. That can be tricky, but his confidence as a scorer was through the roof.

Let’s not bury the lede, though. Holmgren has graduated into a defensive machine. Being back at center has helped him rack up the blocks and be more of a traditional rim protector. After a slow start in that department, he’s quickly made ground with league block leaders Jay Huff and Alex Sarr.

“I’d definitely say just like anything in basketball, there’s a rhythm to it. You can get in a good flow offensively out there. Same thing with defense,” Holmgren said about his blocks. “You can get in a good flow and just naturally end up in the right spot at the right time. I feel like there were even times tonight where I was late on a couple of assignments that I could have been better on. For the most part, I feel like I was all over the place.”

Not much was needed out of Holmgren. He sat out the fourth quarter, too. Since Christmas, his confidence has slowly built up. While he hasn’t played any heavyweights per se, you gotta take care of business against worse teams. The Thunder have shown they’ve mastered that art.

Holmgren continues to play like an All-Star. Barring something wild, he should return to California for the weekend extravaganza in a little over a month from now. Everybody knows what he brings to the table on defense, but the efficient scoring his been quite the development.

Like Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren also received new hardware. He was gifted the December Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month earlier in the afternoon. He joined Cason Wallace as the other recipient for the monthly award. Not surprised the best defense is two-for-two so far in bringing home that trophy.

“I’m not too big on individual awards when we’re chasing what we’re trying to chase. Obviously, I never take anything for granted. It’s much appreciated. It’s great to have hard work recognized,” Holmgren said. “I’d say it’s cool, but we’ve got bigger things that we’re more excited about. We were able to win tonight, and that’s what I was excited about.”

Jalen Williams: C

Given the ball after the stop, Williams was determined to go all the way. He only needed a handful of seconds to get by Richard and finished over Podziemski for the circus layup. At that point, the game was in hand. If you’re OKC, though, you gotta hope he can replicate that more often.

Williams finished with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and two assists. He shot 0-of-2 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws.

Early on, Williams hunted for his shot. The Warriors served this game on a silver platter. That meant this was the perfect low-stress situation where he could knock off even more rust from his surgically-repaired wrist. The Thunder encouraged his scoring aggressiveness. He caught an alley-oop from Wiggins.

Unfortunately, the jumper is still not there. It’s usually friendly with him. That addition to his scoring bag turned him into an All-NBA player last season. So far, it’s ghosted him this season. Until that changes, Williams might need to depend on a drive-first style.

That’s how Williams helped the Thunder bury the Warriors on the scoreboard. With his parents and brother Cody Williams in attendance, he joined Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren on the bench in the fourth quarter as they rooted along for OKC’s third-string players.

Lu Dort: B-plus

Ready at the left wing, Dort made the Warriors pay for doubling Gilgeous-Alexander. A couple of passes later, he calmly knocked down the outside jumper at the buzzer. That was a pretty poetic finish to a dominant first half where the Thunder put this one away early.

Dort finished with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and three rebounds. He shot 3-of-4 from 3. He also had a steal.

Over the last couple of weeks, you’re starting to see Dort enjoy some positive regression to the mean. He’s entered a flow state with his outside jumper. To the point that it’s carried over on the road. That’s one of the bigger hurdles to jump over if you want to be an actual outside threat.

That’s been an awesome development if you’re OKC. The Thunder need Dort to return to being an actual outside shooter. You can’t bail out the opposition in the halfcourt by being left completely wide open and not cashing in on your looks. Let’s see if this keeps up as he’s amid a hot stretch to bump up his shooting percentages.

Up by what felt like a billion points, Dort rested in the fourth quarter. No Curry meant he didn’t get a chance to show off his one-on-one skills against one of the NBA’s best scorers of this era. He’ll likely get that chance Sunday when they face Devin Booker. Especially if Wallace can’t play due to a knee contusion that cut his night short.

Branden Carlson: A-plus

Taking advantage of his size, Carlson resembled Amazon Prime’s Blake Griffin. He helped push OKC’s lead to over 40 points with a handful of alley-oops spoonfed to him. Usually known for his outside jumper, the seven-footer has been one of their better in-game dunkers at the NBA level.

Carlson finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 11 rebounds and two assists. He shot 1-of-2 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws. He also had two steals.

Most of that production happened in garbage time. He had 13 points in the fourth quarter. Discredit it all you want, but that type of film matters. Especially for players fighting for their NBA careers. Carlson has had quite the hot stretch recently that has flown under the radar.

As Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams and Thomas Sorber remain out, the Thunder have turned to their fourth-string center to log backup minutes. Carlson has likely played his way into a standard contract conversion sooner rather than later. He’s been an awesome luxury that has given OKC quality minutes when asked to do so.

“Those are huge minutes because with J-Will and Hart out, you could play small more. Which we’ve done a little bit. It requires a ton of energy from those five guys when you downsize like that. You could play Chet more, which requires a ton of energy, too. You’d overplay and extend him,” Daigneault said about Carlson. “To have somebody that can play those minutes well. Help you move forward. Not have you move backwards. It shows great professionalism by BC.”

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