NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Monday delivered a masterpiece performance to power Oklahoma City over Minnesota 128-126, lifting the Thunder to the brink of the NBA Finals.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored a playoff career-high 40 points and added 10 assists and nine rebounds to spark the Thunder, who took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Western Conference finals series with Game 5 to come today at Oklahoma City.
“You know how close you are, but you’re still so far away,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Play to our identity on both ends of the floor. If we do that we’ll be just fine. If not, it could get ugly.”
Photo: AP
Jalen Williams added 34 points with six-of-nine shooting from three-point range and Chet Holmgren contributed 21 for the Thunder.
“They were amazing,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “They were confident. They weren’t rattled by the moment... I’m nothing but proud of these two.”
The Thunder have not reached the NBA Finals since losing to the Miami Heat in 2012 while the Timberwolves have never reached the championship series.
Reserves Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Donte DiVincenzo sparked Minnesota with 23 and 21 points respectively, while Jaden McDaniels added 22.
“Give their role guys credit,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “The shotmaking was ridiculous, so for us to overcome that on the road the way we did was a great team win.”
“We’re expecting their best punch in game five, so we have to play hard again if we want to win,” he said.
Minnesota star guard Anthony Edwards, tightly marshalled all night, managed only 16 points on five-of-13 shooting.
“Definitely not the points I wanted to get, but they didn’t let me get too many shots off,” Edwards said. “I don’t look at it like I struggled. They just had a good game plan... I didn’t get enough shots to say I struggled.”
The Timberwolves surrendered 21 turnovers and allowed the Thunder 19 offensive rebounds.
“They got 40 more possessions, and we lost by two,” Edwards said. “We can work with that.”
“You’re not going to beat a team like this if you are turning it over 20-plus times,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said.
Oklahoma City won the first two games at home, but host Minnesota delivered the worst playoff loss in Thunder history in game three.
“Had a bad taste in our mouths from the last game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We wanted to control the things we could control.”
Finch said the T-Wolves can win the series but added that “this isn’t the formula to get it done. That’s the most important thing to take away from tonight.”
Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev was the only athlete to “beat” a world record on Sunday at the Enhanced Games, winning the men’s 50m freestyle at the divisive competition where athletes were free to take performance-enhancing substances. His time of 20.81 seconds — which is not considered official — came in the final event of the night in Las Vegas, sparing the blushes of organizers who made claims that multiple world records would be surpassed due to a sophisticated doping regime. Gkolomeev, who was wearing a synthetic “supersuit” long banned at events such as the Olympics, outpaced Australia’s Cameron McEvoy’s 20.88 set in
Fred Kerley is competing unaugmented against drug-fuelled athletes at this weekend’s Enhanced Games and still hopes to race in the 2028 Olympics, the suspended former 100m world champion said on Friday. Arguably the biggest name at the divisive event in Las Vegas, where doping is permitted, the US sprinter said he had chosen not to take any of the banned substances including testosterone and steroids that his competitors have been using. “I don’t need it. God gave me fast feet for a reason. And I’m here to showcase my talent,” Kerley said. Kerley last September became the first US competitor and first track
VICTORY ABROAD: The team took home a fistful of medals and secured spots for the autumn’s Asian Games, scheduled for September in Nagoya Taiwan’s women’s team captured the overall title at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Mongolia on Sunday, finishing with two golds, one silver and one bronze medal. The strong showing, led by gold medalists Wang Chieh-ling and Chang Jui-en secured the full quota of available spots for Taiwan at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, in September. Wang opened Taiwan’s medal run by winning gold in the women’s under-46kg class on Thursday, the first day of competition. Liu Yu-yun later earned a silver in the under-49kg class. On the final day on Sunday, Chang won Taiwan’s second gold medal in the under-62kg event, and
The manager of the Yomiuri Giants, one of Japan’s most popular baseball teams, resigned yesterday after he was arrested for allegedly physically attacking his teenage daughter. Shinnosuke Abe allegedly grabbed the 18-year-old and forced her to the floor at their home in central Tokyo on Monday evening, reported national broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News, citing unnamed police sources. “Leaving like this really means I’m causing you a lot of trouble, and I feel truly sorry about that,” Abe told a hastily arranged news conference, his eyes red with tears. The former star catcher, who is among baseball-obsessed Japan’s most recognized sports figures,
RSS