Player grades: Thunder overcome drama in 132-111 win over Wizards

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A mundane inbound pass turned viral. Jaylin Williams and Justin Champagnie got into a shoving match. Things only escalated from there as the latter palmed Ajay Mitchell's face as he tried to back up his teammate. A scuffle quickly developed. Even though OKC lost three rotation pieces, it provided them a much-needed energy boost.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had an eventful 132-111 win over the Washington Wizards. The final score might suggest this was your average blowout, but there was a lot to unpack in this one.

Considering how huge the talent gap is, most expected this to be a pretty skippable game. If you're an OKC fan but love March Madness, the schedule-makers aligned the stars to at least put this in the background. But nope. There's a reason why these games are played out — even with galaxy-sized talent differences.

The Thunder sleptwalked through things. The afternoon start probably didn't help. The Wizards enjoyed some sizzling outside shooting to start. Both teams were tied at 32 points apiece through the first quarter. Washington's second unit continued that momentum.

After a timeout, the Thunder scored 11 straight points to get this game under control a bit. Alas, the Wizards answered right back. It was a game of runs — as the old saying goes. Jamir Watkins couldn't miss from deep. Looking sleepy on defense, OKC was finally woken up with a bucket of ice-cold water dumped on them.

It all goes back to the Thunder-Wizards altercation. Williams and Champagnie were face-to-face. Mitchell eventually joined to help his teammate. Champagnie took things further when he pushed Mitchell's face away. Anthony Gill added to the chaos when he ran into the 23-year-old from behind.

Once the two sides were separated, the referees took around 10 minutes to decide their next course of action. The punishment? A little one-sided. The Thunder lost Mitchell, Williams and Cason Wallace to ejections. Only Champagnie was kicked out of the Wizards' side of things. All four received at least one technical foul.

Wow. That had the juices flowing. I bet the Thunder didn't take up in D.C., expecting to beef with the lowly Wizards. But in sports, that happens. OKC scored 37 points in the second frame. Gilgeous-Alexander has 20 points already. They entered halftime with a 69-64 lead. A little wobbly with adrenaline pumping through everybody's veins.

After the break, the Thunder finally remembered they're playing one of the league's worst defenses. They scored nine in a row to regain control in the third quarter. It took them a minute to adjust without three rotation players — including two starters — but Gilgeous-Alexander helped them find a rhythm.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 16 points in the third frame alone. The Thunder had 34 points. The reigning MVP took over as Washington was free food. Bilal Coulibaly helped Washington keep up, though. They had a 103-96 lead after the third quarter. In a game that felt like it would go down to the final possessions, OKC pitched a shutout in the opening minutes of the fourth frame.

The Thunder scored the first 15 points in the fourth quarter. All with Gilgeous-Alexander chilling on the bench. On the other end, the Wizards turned into a pumpkin. The hot outside shooting finally evened out. It took until nearly the six-minute mark until they added points to the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.

By then, the Thunder had a 118-99 lead. They led by as many as 25 points. Quite the sudden shift in the game story — as Gilgeous-Alexander wasn't needed to blow this thing open. The OKC second unit finally got going on both ends of the floor. And Washington showed why it's lost 15 in a row.

Not needed for heroics, Gilgeous-Alexander polished another masterpiece with his 40th point. Isaiah Hartenstein was a point shy of a triple-double that featured 20 rebounds. The Thunder scored 29 points in the final frame. Anybody hoping for late-game theatrics has to whet their appetite with the first three quarters of competitive ball.

The Thunder shot 54% from the field and went 11-of-30 (36.7%) from 3. They shot 21-of-30 on free throws. They had 31 assists on 50 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 40 points and seven assists. Chet Holmgren had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Jared McCain scored 18 points. Mitchell had 14 points and three assists. Kenrich Williams tallied 11 points. Hartenstein tallied nine points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists.

Meanwhile, the Wizards shot 45% from the field and went 16-of-39 (41%) from 3. They shot 13-of-18 on free throws. They had 28 assists on 41 baskets. Six Wizards players scored double-digit points.

Coulibaly had 21 points and four rebounds. Bub Carrington finished with 19 points and three assists. Alex Sarr had 14 points and eight assists. Watkins finished with 13 points and five rebounds. Gill had 13 points and five rebounds. Jaden Hardy scored a sizzling 10 points.

Well, that was quite the game. Even though the Thunder won it pretty easily by the end of it, they experienced a Lord-of-the-Rings-esque journey to reach that destination. That's what happens when you pull up to the Wizards and mess around a bit at the beginning. A four-player ejection was the cup of coffee needed to get things going for OKC, but it shouldn't have taken a WWE-lite brawl for that to happen.

Thankfully, this feels closer to a blip than the start of a disturbing trend. Over the last three seasons, the Thunder have made a good habit of taking care of business against gimme opponents. Seldom do you see them drop bad losses. They've grown immune to that. It says a lot that it was on the bad side of the spectrum and still ended up as a double-digit win.

Let's look at Thunder player grades:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus

Quickly getting into his bag in a one-on-one look, Gilgeous-Alexander dribbled circles around Hardy. Crossing him over, the reigning MVP went with the stepback 3-pointer in the final seconds of the third quarter. He drilled the shot at the buzzer as he neared 40 points and added momentum to OKC's side.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 40 points on 17-of-27 shooting, seven assists and three rebounds. He shot 1-of-2 from 3 and went 5-of-8 on free throws. He also had one steal.

In what should've been a relaxed environment, pandemonium ensued. Sparked by the first-half altercation, Gilgeous-Alexander leveraged that as fuel to put up some MVP-esque numbers. The 30-point scorer quickly got over a cold start. He went into Kobe mode as the Wizards had no shot of slowing him down.

Gilgeous-Alexander had a busy middle quarters with 29 points. He dissected Washington's elementary defense like it was a frog in science class. Nobody on their team had a shot at challenging him at his spots — whether because of youthfulness or indifference.

As the game turned into NBA 2K, Gilgeous-Alexander helped the Thunder keep up with the Wizards' hot shooting. They scored a bucket; it was his turn to get one. That happened throughout the middle frames as OKC tried to keep it within a respectable margin and wait out Washington's luck.

Against a non-existent defense, Gilgeous-Alexander sliced through their interior. It was a vintage performance as the drive-heavy scorer slithered his way to the cup. Against a tanking squad, that must've felt like a walk in the park. When he wasn't going head-first at the rim, he pulled up all over the mid-range.

Buying the Thunder time to get back into the game's flow, Gilgeous-Alexander took over in the third quarter. He had 16 points. He capped it off with the stepback 3-pointer that showed just how much of a groove he was in. At 36 points through three frames, he punched in his 40th point on a one-handed jam — sorta a redemption play when he went up for the same reason in the first half.

Just an unreal game by Gilgeous-Alexander. When things could've unraveled, he was the calming hand. The Thunder don't win this without those intangibles. Several moments throughout the evening when it felt like the Wizards could do the unthinkable. But he stiff-armed Washington by himself on the score. Just your typical MVP stuff.

Chet Holmgren: A

Cutting baseline, Holmgren jumped up for Hartenstein's lob pass. The seven-footer caught the alley-oop as Sarr froze up on who to guard. The big-to-big connection was sharpened against a clueless Washington frontcourt. The 23-year-old helped Gilgeous-Alexander secure this win.

Holmgren finished with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 10 rebounds. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and went 6-of-6 on free throws. He also had two blocks.

Helping put this game away, Holmgren scored 12 points in the second half. The Thunder badly needed him to step up as a scorer with three rotation players ejected. He showed how you could do that without needing to dribble. The seven-footer hung around the paint before being fed several easy dunks on an inattentive Washington defense.

Ballooning the scoreboard, Holmgren had eight points in the fourth quarter. On the other end, the Wizards remained scoreless for nearly six minutes. Paired with shutting down Washington's interior scoring, it makes sense why he was a game-high plus-24.

The box-score numbers don't pop off, but Holmgren had another efficient scoring game paired with helping on the boards. And watching the game, you saw how he completely altered Washington's shot diet. All of their young players second-guessed their drives to the rim.

There's a reason why all of the advanced metrics love Holmgren. To have that ginormous of an impact on one side of the floor makes you one-for-one. Once things calmed down from the extracurricular activity, we returned to basketball and quickly remembered why both of these teams are on opposite sides of things.

Isaiah Hartenstein: A-plus

Running to the rim, Hartenstein grabbed an offensive rebound among three Wizards players. He went up for the second-chance jam. Even though the scoring numbers weren't loud, the 27-year-old dominated in other facets of basketball to help the Thunder.

Hartenstein finished with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting, 20 rebounds and 10 assists. He shot 1-of-4 on free throws. He also had two steals.

Pure dominance on the glass for Hartenstein. 20 rebounds is easily a career high. The seven-footer bullied his way through several Wizards players to grab them. Both on offense and defense. It's proven at this point, but it's still amazing just how much better of a rebounding team OKC is when he suits up. He completely changes that aspect of the game.

Elsewhere, Hartenstein helped the Thunder run their offense — specifically in the second unit. The savvy passer found several teammates on cuts to the basket. When that didn't happen, he went with his classic DHO moves, where he threw a bounce-pass and then created space with his Hulk-esque screens.

While Hartenstein was teased for finishing a point shy of a triple-double, that doesn't discredit him from turning in one of his best games since his soleus strain problems popped up months ago. He kept OKC's offense going with several second-chance looks and limited Washington on the boards.

Jared McCain: B-plus

Bringing the ball up, McCain utilized Alex Caruso's screen to get some space. Dribbling over to the top of the key, Will Riley's late contest turned irrelevant. He knocked down the deep outside jumper. It was part of a handful of scores to open the fourth quarter.

McCain finished with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting, three rebounds and one assist. He shot 4-of-10 from 3 and went 2-of-3 on free throws. He also had one block.

Talk about stepping up when needed the most. Suddenly down three rotation players due to ejections? That's cool. Here comes McCain to help the Thunder make up for some of the absences. He scored a dozen points in the second half as he started in place of Mitchell.

It didn't take long for him to inject some offense. He gladly ate into the vacated possessions as a gunner. The Thunder finally have someone who's got a quick trigger from the outside. The Wizards learned that firsthand as he hunted for his jumper from all areas of the floor — but most notably, beyond the arc.

Part of the fourth-quarter lineup that put this one away, McCain was surgical. The Thunder fed him the ball. He helped turn this into a blowout while Gilgeous-Alexander rested. Just another big-time game by the 22-year-old. He's played his best basketball this season as the NBA playoffs near.

Ajay Mitchell: B

Backing up Williams in his altercation with Champagnie, Mitchell was quickly promoted from background character to protagonist. Getting hit in the face, the 23-year-old Hulk'd out on the Washington role player. Eventually, Gill took a cheap shot by shoving him into a row of chairs.

The ejection was a shame. He was on a heater before it. Mitchell finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, three assists and one rebound. He shot 2-of-2 from 3. He also had one steal.

Felt like we were on the cusp of a scoring outbreak for Mitchell. He's received starts in the last handful of games. Ramping up for the NBA playoffs, the drive-heavy scorer muscled his way through Washington's defense for several blue-collar finishes around the rim.

Sprinkle in a couple of outside jumpers, Mitchell flirted with 20 points in the first half alone. Alas, fate had other plans. He was part of the OKC-Washington fight that went viral. Surprisingly enough, he was kicked out of the game for the altercation. Shame.

Will be interesting to see if there are any further repercussions. Not out of the question that Mitchell will serve a suspension. In that scenario, that would be a massive bummer as he's already lost a ton of time this season with injuries. Missing time for miscellaneous activities would be brutal and completely avoidable.

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This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Player grades: Thunder overcome drama in 132-111 win over Wizards

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