Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday scored 35 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder thrashed the Denver Nuggets 125-93 to book their place in the NBA Western Conference Finals.
After a back-and-forth series with little to choose between the two teams, top seeds the Thunder asserted their dominance in a one-sided game seven to seal a 4-3 series victory.
The win sends Oklahoma City into a showdown with Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves for a place in next month’s NBA Finals, with Game 1 set for today.
Photo: AP
“It feels good,” point guard Gilgeous-Alexander said after the win. “Obviously our ultimate goal isn’t just the Western Conference Finals, but we’ve got to go through there to get there. We put it together tonight and now we’ve got four games to go get against a really good team in the Timberwolves and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Gilgeous-Alexander, who is vying with Denver’s Nikola Jokic for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, was backed by 24 points from Jalen Williams.
The Nuggets scoring was led by Jokic with 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, while Christian Braun added 19 and Jamal Murray 13.
Denver were left counting the cost of an error-strewn performance that saw them cough up 23 turnovers which the Thunder’s livewire offense ruthlessly converted into 37 points.
“The turnovers were a huge issue in this game, obviously,” Denver interim head coach David Adelman said. “Sometimes turnovers as a number don’t matter, but 16 steals off live ball turnovers — that’s 37 points off your mistakes. You’re not going to win a playoff game like that.”
Denver had produced a sensational performance on Friday to tie the series at 3-3 and set up Sunday’s decisive Game 7 in Oklahoma City.
The Nuggets started brightly, seizing an early 11-point lead midway through the first quarter and taking a five-point cushion into the second quarter at 26-21, but the game flipped decisively in the second quarter as Oklahoma City unleashed the full force of their potent offense, erupting for 39 points to Denver’s 20.
Thunder forward Jalen Williams did the damage for the home team, scoring 17 points in the second quarter from 8-of-11 shooting to send Oklahoma City into halftime with a 60-46 lead.
Oklahoma City picked up where they left off in the second quarter when the third quarter got underway, outscoring Denver 37-26 to move into an unassailable lead.
“We wanted to keep the pressure on coming out of the half, as we haven’t been great in the third quarter this series,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We wanted to make that emphasis and come out stronger. We did so.”
The Thunder kept the points flowing into the fourth, and led by a massive margin of 43 points at 125-82 with just under four minutes remaining before coasting home.
Adelman was left bemoaning his team’s failure to build on their bright start to the first quarter when they went 11 points clear.
“That was our opportunity to really take control of the game, but they kept bringing new people in and they overwhelmed us,” Adelman said. “I’m crushed for the guys in there. The effort they gave to get into this position and to have the opportunity today. To have the start that we wanted and then for it to go sideways so quickly ... it’s crushing.”
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six