Thunder lose 20-point lead but rebound to beat Pelicans

Jalen Williams scored 26 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied with a 12-0 run during the final 2:31 to escape with a 119-112 victory over the Pelicans on Tuesday night at New Orleans after losing a 20-point lead in the third quarter.

Josh Giddey scored 25 points and Shai GilgeousAlexander added 24, including a tying 3 with 1:29 left.

Zion Williamson had 29 points and 10 assists, and CJ McCollum scored 23 points for the Pelicans, who trailed 88-68 before using a 20-2 run to get themselves — and the crowd — back into the game.

New Orleans briefly went up by five — helped by Trey Murphy III's 28-foot 3 and McCollum's driving floater — to take a 112-107 lead with 3:11 left. But the Pelicans did not score again, missing their final five shots.

Chet Holmgren had 16 points for Oklahoma City, which won for the fifth time in six games to pull half a game behind idle Denver for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Murphy and Herb Jones each scored 16 for New Orleans, which lost for just the second time in eight games and fell out of fourth place in the West.

Oklahoma City shot 62.2% (28 of 45) overall and 50% (10 of 20) from long distance in the first half, when it opened up a 15-point lead.

Williams had 18 of his points in the opening half, and his third 3 of the game gave the Thunder a 71-56 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander's 15-foot turnaround in the final seconds of the second quarter gave Oklahoma City a 73-58 halftime lead.

CAVS SHOW OFF NEW ARENA PLANS >>

The Cavaliers are stepping up their off-court game.

The NBA franchise unveiled renderings on Tuesday for a new world-class practice and high-tech training facility for the Cavs and public use in downtown that will further develop unused land on the Cuyahoga River and perhaps help lure free agents to Cleveland.

Pending approval from the city's planning commission, the team is hoping to break ground on the 210,000-square-foot Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center later this year and open by 2027.

The complex is being privately funded by Cavs chairman Dan Gilbert in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic. Gilbert initially envisioned using the acreage along the river for the second phase of a casino project that never came to fruition.

Now, it's being repurposed for the Cavs, who have been training in Independence, Ohio, since 2007.

While that facility remains fully functional and adequate, it's no longer practical as the team has expanded its staff and grown with the addition of the G League Cleveland Charge.

It's not feasible to expand that location due to geographic and logistical limitations, and the Cavs would prefer to be near Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The new facility is four times larger than the current one.

“This project is the first step in creating a more vibrant and growth-oriented neighborhood, transforming the look and feel of downtown,” said Gilbert, who plans a $3.5 billion redevelopment of the river front that has gone unused for decades.

Cleveland's downtown has undergone major growth in recent years, and several of the team's current players either live there or just minutes away.