Five takeaways from the Clippers’ win over Oklahoma City

The Clippers built an early lead and cruised to a 120-98 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night at Staples Center.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. When Chris Paul gets an MRI on the sprained left thumb he injured during Monday night’s Clippers win over Oklahoma City, L.A. obviously is hoping for the best.

He got an X-ray on the thumb Monday night, and it showed that nothing was broken. The Clippers said Paul had swelling around the area and will undergo an MRI exam Tuesday.

Paul sat out seven games recently because of a strained left hamstring. The Clippers lost five of those games, and they lost the one game Paul tried to play in at New Orleans, which was a part of a six-game losing streak.

He sprained his left thumb at practice during training camp, but Paul didn’t miss the start of the regular season.

He broke his right hand last season during the playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers, forcing Paul to miss the final two games.

Paul was injured against the Thunder after he got sandwiched between Russell Westbrook and Joffrey Lauvergne while playing defense.

“You worry when he does not come back out for the second half,” J.J. Redick said. “I’ve seen Chris go off before and he tries to play. So, I’m not assuming the worst by any means, but I recognize there’s probably a good chance that he’s maybe out a game or two — best case. Worse case, we’ll deal with that.

“In the immediate future, hopefully it’s not serious. But if it is, Blake [Griffin, out for right knee surgery] is going to be back soon. So next guy up, I guess. We’ve kind of dealt with this quite a bit lately. We’ll just continue to plug away.”

2. This not getting technical fouls in 2017 is not going so well for the Clippers.

Both Austin Rivers and DeAndre Jordan picked up technical fouls against the Thunder.

Rivers got his technical in the second quarter and Jordan got his in the third. Rivers has five technicals.

Jordan now has 10 technical fouls on the season, two this month.

“Today was really tough, because I didn’t think I deserved that one,” Jordan said. “But, whatever. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

Doc Rivers wasn’t happy. He had vowed to have his team stop picking up technical fouls. When they do, he said the money from the technicals will be donated to charity.

“I didn’t like either one of them,” Doc Rivers said. “We talked about it. … We’re just going to keep giving money to a charity.

“Neither one of them needed it, let’s put it that way. Neither one of them should have got it. I didn’t think either call was egregious enough to get one.”

3. With Paul going out in the second quarter because of the sprained left thumb, Raymond Felton took over the point duties without a hitch.

Felton had eight of his 15 points in the third quarter, helping the Clippers put away the Thunder.

4. The Clippers shot the three-ball very well.

They shot 42.8% from three-pointer range, making 12 of 28. Redick led the way by making five of 10 from long range.

5. Marreese Speights produced his third double-double of the season. He had 23 points and 10 rebounds.