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.”
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
RESILIENT NEW YORK: The Knicks have depended heavily on Jalen Brunson this season, but with his minutes restricted due to five fouls, they needed to show depth The New York Knicks on Sunday overturned a 20-point deficit as they fought back to beat the Indiana Pacers 106-100 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Knicks cut Indiana’s lead to 2-1 in the series and after losing both games at Madison Square Garden in New York they are now right back in the battle for a place in the NBA Finals. Karl-Anthony Towns starred for the Knicks with 24 points — 20 of them in an explosive fourth-quarter performance — and he contributed 15 rebounds as New York recorded their joint-largest comeback in a playoff game.
RSS