Oklahoma City Picks Up Road Win At Milwaukee

Grant Belcher, News9.com

MILWAUKEE – This is the time of year when having a young, energetic and refreshed group of players can really start to pay off.

While most teams are sluggishly working through the end of the compact season, the Thunder looked brand new on Monday night with a 109-89 road win against the Bucks.

For the second straight game, Oklahoma City was able to give its starters most of the second half off, though this time it probably could have given its starters the entire game off and still been fine.

The Thunder controlled the game right out of the gate, leading by as many as 21 in the first quarter alone.

But Milwaukee never seemed to have the energy to make a significant run, even against the Thunder's bench players.

OKC led by double digits the remainder of the game and upped its margin to as many as 26 at one point in the fourth.

Though the game was well in hand, Kevin Durant took the floor with the backups to start the fourth quarter and ended up registering 36 minutes in the game.

He shot 5-of-14 and finished with 19 points, eight assists and four rebounds.

Russell Westbrook led all players in scoring with 26 points in 26 minutes. And James Harden had 16 off the bench.

Serge Ibaka had five blocks in the first half alone, but barely got any time in the second half to add to that total.

Oklahoma City faced former Edmond Santa Fe standout Ekpe Udoh for the first time since Udoh was traded from Golden State in March.

Udoh's stats have gone up significantly with his new team, but he had a bit of a quiet game overall against OKC with four points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

With the season in its home stretch, every game becomes that much more important for teams jockeying for position in the Western Conference.

The Thunder's victory quickly gave them a half-game lead atop the Western Conference while the Spurs were at halftime of their Monday night game. The Spurs went on to lose to the Utah Jazz on Monday, giving Oklahoma City a one-game advantage over San Antonio atop the West after their games.

Oklahoma City gets another day off on Tuesday before coming back home to host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. Tipoff for the game is set for 7 p.m.