Miami (AFP) – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put up his fourth 50-point game of the season as Western Conference leaders the Oklahoma City Thunder marched on with a 137-128 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday. NBA leading scorer Gilgeous-Alexander had 51 points with seven assists, making all 10 of his free throws as the Thunder moved to 50-11 on the season. He made a dominant start to the game, making 20 of the Thunder’s 30 first-quarter points.
A contender for the league’s Most Valuable Player award this year, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 18 of 30 from the field including 5-of-9 on three-point attempts. The Thunder didn’t have it all their own way, however, with Houston leading by nine in the second quarter before Oklahoma City went in a point up at the break. The Thunder took control in the third quarter, breaking out to a 102-89 lead before the final quarter, when Houston battled back again to get within six. But consecutive three-pointers from Luguentz Dort late in the fourth made sure of the 27th home win (against four losses) for the Thunder.
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“It’s about us just being who we are and we didn’t have enough of it tonight, up to our standard, but we did enough to get the ‘W’,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “I’m just trying to be aggressive, trying to get my team energy, trying to make the right play. Whatever the ball and the game tells me to do, I do,” the Canadian added. Cam Whitmore top-scored for Houston with 27 points and 11 rebounds while Reed Sheppard put up 25 points for the 37-24 Rockets.
– Grizzlies struggles –
The Memphis Grizzlies, now fourth in the West, continued their recent struggles, losing their sixth game in eight with a 132-130 defeat at home to the Atlanta Hawks. The game went down to the wire with Caris LeVert making a last-second lay-up to secure the victory for the 28-33 Hawks. LeVert was crucial to the win with 16 points in the last quarter. Zaccharie Risacher top-scored for Atlanta with 27 points while LeVert had 25 off the bench. Desmond Bane had his first triple-double for the Grizzlies with 35 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds.
Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said he had no doubt that his team would end their run of poor form and bounce back from the loss. “We’ve done it every season that I’ve been here. I told the team afterwards that resilience is the best thing we have,” he said. “There are injuries, there are obviously deficiencies on the defensive side. We just have to rally, stay together, our group is going to respond and we have to play at the level that we are capable of.”
Stephen Curry returned to his hometown Charlotte and led the Golden State Warriors to a 119-101 win over the Hornets. He had 21 points and 10 assists. Miles Bridges led Charlotte with 35 points and nine rebounds but the Hornets fell to their seventh straight loss. “We had some lows for sure,” said Curry of the Warriors’ performance, “We were convincing enough for stretches where we could get some stops but we can play better, for sure,” he added.
The Dallas Mavericks lost star guard Kyrie Irving to a left knee sprain in the first quarter as they fell to a 122-98 loss to the Sacramento Kings. The Mavericks, still reeling from the trade which saw them lose Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, have lost four of their last five games while the Kings have won four straight. Irving suffered the injury driving to the basket and was carried off court — he is the fourth Mavs starter now sidelined by injury. Jaden Hardy then turned his ankle in the third quarter and had to leave the game. “It just seems every time we get close to get someone back, someone else goes down, we are running out of bodies here,” said Mavs head coach Jason Kidd.
Zach LaVine scored 22 points and DeMar DeRozan scored 20 for the Kings (32-28). The Detroit Pistons continued their playoff push in the East with a 134-106 win over the Utah Jazz, with Cade Cunningham leading with 29 points and nine assists.
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