San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
THUNDER WIN BATTLE OF WEST’S TOP TEAMS
Shai Gilgeous-alexander scored 11 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 102-97 on Saturday night in a matchup of the top teams in the Western Conference standings.
Thunder 102, T-wolves 97
Jaylin Williams added 20 points for Oklahoma City, and Minnesota native Chet Holmgren had 15. The Thunder trailed by 11 early in the fourth before rallying to win for the second time in four games to pull within a game of Minnesota.
“We just had great resilience tonight,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “It’s one thing to defend like that, but it’s another when you’re shooting the ball so poorly. We just had a really hard time cracking them. They played great defense in the second half.”
The Thunder shot just 39.5 percent from the field, but held the Timberwolves to 14 points in the fourth on 3of-13 shooting.
Anthony Edwards and Karl-anthony Towns each had 19 points for Minnesota and Naz Reid added 18. The Timberwolves had won four in a row to regain the West’s No. 1 spot after losing four of six to drop behind Oklahoma City.
Knicks 126, Raptors 100:
Julius Randle had 18 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in his 14th career triple-double, and New York routed Toronto in the first meeting between the teams since a trade last month.
RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley return to loud cheers at Madison Square Garden, but the Knicks improved to 9-2 since OG Anunoby joined their lineup after the Dec. 30 deal that has helped both teams.
Jalen Brunson led all scorers
with 38 points on 13-for-23 shooting from the field and hit each of his seven free throws. Randle had his eighth triple-double with the Knicks.
Barrett scored 20 points and Quickley had 12 points and 11 assists.
76ers 97, Hornets 89: Joel Embiid had 33 points to extend his franchise-record run of 30 or more to 20 games and visiting Philadelphia beat Charlotte for its fifth straight victory.
The reigning NBA MVP Embiid also had 10 rebounds. He was 11 of 23 from the field and made 11 of 12 free throws.
Spurs 131, Wizards 127: Victor Wembanyama returned after sitting out a game to score 24 points and grab eight rebounds, leading San Antonio over host Washington.
Tre Jones added 11 points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds for the Spurs, while Jeremy Sochan scored 23 points and Devin Vasell had 21.
Wembanyama sat out for the sixth time this season against Charlotte on Friday
night. The No. 1 overall pick sprained an ankle on Dec. 23 at Dallas, and the Spurs have been cautious with him.
Rockets 127, Jazz 126 (OT): Alperen Sengun scored a career-high 37 points and had a game-high 14 rebounds to lead Houston over visiting Utah.
Sengun missed two free throws with 8.1 seconds remaining in overtime, and Utah’s Jordan Clarkson missed a mid-range jumper in the closing seconds as Houston hung on to snap a three-game losing streak.
Cavaliers 116, Hawks 95:
Donovan Mitchell had 18 points and eight assists to lead a balanced attack as Cleveland extended the NBA’S longest current win streak to seven games with a victory at Atlanta.
Jarrett Allen had 14 points and 11 rebounds, while seven Cavaliers scored in double figures. Sam Merrill had 18 points with five 3-pointers. Dean Wade scored 17 and Georges Niang had 14.
Bulls 125, Grizzlies 96:
Ayo Dosunmu scored 20 points, Demar Derozan
added 18 and host Chicago pounded Memphis.
After falling behind, the Bulls had a 17-0 third-quarter run to pull away to their sixth win in eight games, even though Zach Lavine sat out because of a sprained right ankle.
Bucks 141, Pistons 135: Damian Lilliard had 45 points and 11 assists to lead visiting Milwaukee over Detroit.
Giannis Antetokounmpo added 31 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, but missed 11 of his 22 free throw attempts. Brook Lopez had 19 points for the Bucks, who have won four of five.
Friday’s late results Trail Blazers 118, Pacers 115:
Jerami Grant scored 37 points and host Portland spoiled Pascal Siakam’s debut with Indiana.
Nets 130, Lakers 112: Cam Thomas scored 33 points and visiting Brooklyn beat Los Angeles, pulling away in a dominant second half to snap a four-game losing streak and win for the fourth time in 18 games.