Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder thumped New Orleans 137-106 and emerged from Sunday as the NBA’s only remaining unbeaten team after losses for San Antonio and Chicago. The defending champion Thunder matched the 7-0 start of their 2024-25 campaign.
But the Spurs, who were off to a 5-0 start for the first time in franchise history, fell 130-118 to the Suns in Phoenix, where the hosts held San Antonio’s French star Victor Wembanyama to a dismal nine points. The New York Knicks handed the Bulls their first defeat of the season 128-116 at Madison Square Garden.
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Oklahoma City 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 contributed 13 each for Oklahoma City, who had eight players score in double figures. While coach Mark Daigneault was pleased to see the shots falling, he emphasized that 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 suggests.
“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. “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.”
San Antonio was riding high in the first month of the season thanks to the dominance of Wembanyama. The 21-year-old phenomenon entered Sunday’s game averaging more than 30 points and almost 15 rebounds per game since returning this season after treatment for a blood clot that prematurely ended his last season in February. However, he endured a frustrating night against the Suns’ suffocating defense, going without a basket until nearly the final minute of the first half. Wembanyama added nine rebounds, two assists, a steal, four blocked shots, and six of the Spurs’ 14 turnovers, while failing to get to the free-throw line.
“Just playing team defense,” said Suns forward Ryan Dunn about the defensive effort on Wembanyama. “He’s a one-of-a-kind player (we) made it tough on him, gave him different looks.” Stephon Castle led the Spurs with 26 points, but the Suns, led by 28 points and 13 assists from Devin Booker, took control with a 31-point first quarter and never trailed after the opening minutes. San Antonio fell behind by as many as 31 in the third quarter and were down 24 going into the fourth.
The Spurs showed signs of life with a 12-0 scoring run early in the fourth, cutting the deficit to 14 on a three-pointer by Wembanyama with 6:24 remaining, but the Suns pulled away again.
In New York, Jalen Brunson scored 31 points, OG Anunoby added 21, and Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in 20 points and 15 rebounds as the Knicks avenged a lopsided Friday loss to the Bulls. Aussie guard Josh Giddey delivered a triple-double of 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists for Chicago, which had opened the season 5-0 for the first time since a 12-0 start in 1996, when they went on to capture the fifth of six titles with Michael Jordan on board.
© 2024 AFP
