Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points in just three quarters as the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder thumped the New Orleans Pelicans 137-106 on Sunday to push their season-opening win streak to 7-0. The Thunder, who have matched the 7-0 start of their 2024-25 championship campaign, dominated the winless Pelicans despite three key absences.
Guard Luguentz Dort was sidelined by illness, forward Chet Holmgren missed a third straight game with a lower back injury, and All-Star Jalen Williams has yet to make his season debut after off-season wrist surgery. The Thunder connected on 56% of their shots, including 20-of-48 from three-point range, keeping their offense popping with 33 assists. Aaron Wiggins added 15 points while Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe added 13 each for Oklahoma City, who had eight players score in double figures.
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While coach Mark Daigneault was pleased to see the shots falling, he said the dominant performance was a reward for the Thunder’s persistence in an early season stretch that hasn’t been as easy as their record makes it look. “I thought the team showed a great maturity because we weren’t making a ton of shots early in the season but we just continued to improve the things that generate good shots,” he said. “And tonight we got good shots again — we have the last two games — and they fell. To me, it was more about the persistence that we’ve shown through a rough shooting stretch more so than how we played tonight in a vacuum.”
The league’s other two remaining unbeaten teams, Chicago and San Antonio, were in action on Sunday. At 5-0, the Bulls are off to their strongest start since they opened 12-0 in 1996 and went on to capture the fifth of six titles won with Michael Jordan. They will try to extend the streak when they take on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, where the hosts are trying to snap a three-game skid.
The Spurs are 5-0 to start a season for the first time in franchise history thanks to the dominant form of French star Victor Wembanyama. The 21-year-old phenomenon is averaging 30.2 points, 14.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.4 steals, and 4.8 blocks per game since returning this season after treatment for a blood clot in his shoulder that brought his last season to a premature close in February. Wembanyama and the Spurs bid to extend their winning streak when they take on the Suns in Phoenix.
© 2024 AFP
