The Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday breezed past the New Orleans Pelicans to maintain their lead in the Western Conference as the Detroit Pistons rolled to a 10th straight win to extend their advantage at the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
Defending NBA champions the Thunder improved to 14-1 for the season with a 126-109 victory on the road in New Orleans thanks to 26 points from Chet Holmgren, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander chipped in with 23.
The game was effectively sealed in the opening quarter, as Oklahoma City poured in a franchise-record 49 points to take the game away from New Orleans.
Photo: AP
Once again, Oklahoma City’s balanced offense proved decisive, with six players finishing in double digits in a wire-to-wire victory.
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander has now logged 87 consecutive games in which he has scored 20 points or more.
Only NBA great Wilt Chamberlain, who leads the all-time rankings with 20-point game scoring streaks of 92 and 126 games, has achieved more.
Photo: AP
Jeremiah Fears led the Pelicans scorers with 24 points as New Orleans slumped to their 12th defeat of the season.
Oklahoma City lead the West from second-placed Denver, who were downed 130-127 by the Chicago Bulls.
Nikola Jokic scored a 36-point triple-double for the Nuggets, but the Bulls held off a fourth-quarter rally to snatch victory.
In Detroit, Michigan, the pace-setting Pistons extended their winning streak to 10 games with a confident 127-112 defeat of the struggling Pacers.
Indiana, beaten by Oklahoma City in last season’s NBA Finals, have endured a nightmare start to the new campaign and are now 1-13 and rooted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The Pacers never looked like shaking off their early-season torpor, despite facing a Detroit team missing both Cade Cunningham and Tobias Harris.
Jalen Duren did the damage for Detroit with 31 points, while Daniss Jenkins scored 26, with five Detroit players making double figures.
“We’ve gotta be better, really, in all areas,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
In Cleveland, Ohio, Donovan Mitchell’s 37-point salvo helped the Cavaliers to a 118-106 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks jumped out to an early 14-point lead in the first quarter, but were gradually reeled in by the Cavs.
Defeat for Milwaukee was compounded by an injury to star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who left the game in the second quarter with a groin issue.
“We won’t know anything until tomorrow, but it didn’t look great, I can tell you that,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said of Antetokounmpo’s injury. “We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Elsewhere, the Heat edged the Knicks 115-113, the 76ers overcame the Clippers 110-108, the Timberwolves thrashed the Mavericks 120-96 and the Raptors swatted aside the Hornets 110-108.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
‘HIGH STANDARD’: The Thunder are on track for a Finals-Cup double after they scored 22 three-pointers in equaling the best 25-game start to a season in NBA history The Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday bagged a 16th straight victory, thrashing the Phoenix Suns 138-89 to romp into an NBA Cup semi-final clash with the San Antonio Spurs, who stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the reigning NBA champions Thunder, who improved to 24-1 to equal the best 25-game start to a season in league history. They dominated from start to finish to book their place in the final four of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, where they are tomorrow to take on the Spurs. The New York Knicks and
TOP OF THE TABLE: Evann Guessand put the visitors ahead early in the game and Flavius Daniliuc equalized before Youri Tielemans got the winner in the second half Aston Villa on Thursday extended their winning streak to eight games in all competitions with a 2-1 victory against Basel in the UEFA Europa League to secure at least a playoff spot. Villa were tied with Olympique Lyonnais, who beat Go Ahead Eagles 2-1, and Midtjylland, 1-0 winners over Genk, atop the standings of the second-tier European competition on 15 points with five wins from six games. They have bounced back from a poor start to the season and are third in the Premier League, including a 2-1 victory over leaders Arsenal on Saturday. At St Jakob-Park in Basel, summer signing Evann Guessand
Tony Jefferson intercepted a Jalen Hurts pass in overtime to give the Los Angeles Chargers a 22-19 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday in an NFL thriller between playoff contenders. Justin Herbert, playing a week after surgery on his broken left (non-throwing) hand, withstood a career-high seven sacks to throw for 139 yards and a touchdown for the Chargers. Cameron Dicker kicked five field goals, including the 54-yard game winner in overtime. The Chargers defenders forced Hurts to throw four interceptions and surrender a fumble for a career-worst five turnovers as the Eagles fell to 8-5 with a third
RSS