Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The Oklahoma City Thunder, fueled by big games from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren, opened their NBA campaign with a dominant 102-87 victory over Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in Denver on Thursday. Gilgeous-Alexander, who was runner-up to Jokic in Most Valuable Player award voting last season, scored 28 points and Holmgren added 25 points, a career-high 14 rebounds, four blocked shots, and two steals for the Thunder, who led by as many as 20 points.
Oklahoma City withstood a triple-double from Jokic, who claimed his third MVP trophy in four years last season. The Serbian star scored 16 points with 12 rebounds and 13 assists. But the Nuggets connected on just 35.4 percent of their shots from the field — making just 15 of 54 shots in the second half as the Thunder romped home. OKC and Denver finished with matching 57-25 records last season, the Thunder claiming top seed in the Western Conference on a tiebreaker but falling to Dallas in the Conference semi-finals. Holmgren impressed on both ends of the floor, blocking a shot by Jokic in the third quarter and sprinting for a dunk.
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“I’m just trying to go out there and execute and help make winning plays,” Holmgren said. “And we put enough of them together tonight to come away with a win.”
– Thompson shines for Mavs –
Four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson scored 22 points in his Dallas debut to give the reigning Western Conference champion Mavericks a boost in their 120-109 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Slovenian star Luka Doncic scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mavs, who fell to the Boston Celtics in last season’s NBA Finals and acquired Thompson in a free-agent deal in the off-season with the hope of going even further this season. Thompson, who won four titles in 13 seasons with the Golden State Warriors, was delighted with his first outing for the Mavs.
“Couldn’t ask for a better start,” Thompson told broadcaster TNT. “Just sharing the flow with (Kyrie Irving), Luka, and the rest of the guys — very special after a hard month of really good work.” But it’s just a small step for where we want to go,” Thompson added.
San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama, aiming to build on last season’s Rookie of the Year campaign, connected on just five of 18 shots from the field on the way to 17 points. The Spurs also coughed up 19 turnovers leading to 17 Mavericks points. Chris Paul, an 11-time All-Star point guard brought in to lend veteran experience to the young San Antonio squad, scored all of his points on a lone three-pointer, finishing one-of-six from the field with eight assists.
Elsewhere, the reigning champion Boston Celtics, coming off a season-opening rout of the New York Knicks, got off to a slow start against last season’s second-worst team Washington, who led by as many as eight points in the early going. It was tied at 51-51 with five minutes left in the second quarter, but Boston closed the first half on a 13-3 run and cruised from there to a 122-102 victory.
Jaylen Brown celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring 27 points and Jayson Tatum added 25 with 11 rebounds for Boston, who had 19 points from Derrick White. “This was our first road game…we started off a little slow but we stayed the course and we were able to get the win,” Brown said.
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