Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The NBA Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder suffered just their third defeat of the season Friday, in a last-minute 112-107 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. A whopping 35 points from reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t enough to prevent the reverse — the previously imperious Thunder’s second in their past three games.
Anthony Edwards top-scored for the Timberwolves, earning 26 points, plus 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. The NBA champion Thunder had held the lead with 40 seconds left on the clock, before an Edwards 24-foot three-point step back jumpshot gave the Timberwolves the decisive advantage.
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“It was a close game, it could have gone either way. We’ve played a lot of these games this season. We’ve won a lot of them,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. “We had a lead going into the closing possessions, and then they just made a couple more plays than we did,” he told reporters after.
The loss leaves the Thunder at 25-3, and comes just days after their elimination from the NBA Cup semi-final in Las Vegas by the San Antonio Spurs. Oklahoma City had been on a 16-game winning streak that prompted talk of them breaking Golden State’s record 73-win season.
Also on Friday, the San Antonio Spurs crushed the Atlanta Hawks 126-98, with French NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama coming off the bench to score 26 points in just 21 minutes. His time still being managed since returning from injury, Wembanyama also managed 12 rebounds, three assists, two blocks — and a spectacular one-handed alley-oop dunk.
The Spurs’ win follows their own disappointment of defeat in the NBA Cup final in Las Vegas Tuesday by the New York Knicks. Victory takes the Spurs to third in the Western Conference, on 20-7. It was Wembanyama’s 100th game in a row making at least one block, a streak achieved only twice before in NBA history — Dikembe Mutombo (116) and Patrick Ewing (145). The 7ft 4in (2.24m) prodigy, 21, had missed a dozen Spurs games after suffering a left calf strain last month.
The Knicks’ seven-game winning streak came to an end with a 116-107 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden. Tyrese Maxey led the scoring, with 30 points, nine rebounds and two assists. The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 129-116, with Jaylen Brown reaching 30 points for a sixth consecutive game.
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