NEW YORK – “Crafty” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Joe combined for 70 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder bounced back to winning ways with a 126-101 drubbing of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Jan 10.

Oklahoma City were left licking their wounds after their much-anticipated tussle against the No. 1 ranked Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan 8 ended in a chastening defeat.

But the Western Conference leaders showed no signs of a hangover with a blowout victory over the Knicks, in what had been billed as a potential National Basketball Association Finals preview.

The Knicks were effectively forced into damage limitation mode after a blistering start from Oklahoma City saw the visitors surge into a 31-17 lead after the first quarter.

The Thunder kept their foot on the pedal in the second, pouring in 39 points to take a mammoth 70-43 half-time lead that the Knicks never looked like catching as boos echoed around Madison Square Garden.

Knicks guard Mikal Bridges was quoted by The New York Post as saying: “Defensively, a lot of miscues, lack of communication, which is very boo-worthy.” 

Coach Tom Thibodeau added: “If you have a lull where there’s three or four bad possessions, well, they can go on a run during that, and that’s what they did.” 

Gilgeous-Alexander spearheaded another dazzling offensive performance from the Thunder, finishing with 39 points from 15-of-21 shooting, while Joe caught fire with eight three-pointers off the bench to deliver a 31-point display.

Said Bridges of Most Valuable Player candidate Gilgeous-Alexander: “He’s crafty. Real crafty. Just real slithery, that’s all we say about him. Like, he just get around you and it’s tough.”

Oklahoma City’s win saw them stretch their lead to 31-6 at the top of the Western Conference standings, six games ahead of the second-placed Houston Rockets.

Said Knicks forward Josh Hart: “We didn’t get stops. We didn’t get out in transition. We didn’t play fast. We didn’t make shots. We didn’t do really anything we were supposed to do.” 

In other games on Jan 10, there was an upset in Boston as the reigning champion Celtics stumbled to a 114-97 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points to lead the scoring but the plaudits went to centre Domantas Sabonis, who finished with 23 points and a whopping 28 rebounds.

Malik Monk added 22 points ...