Shai Gilgeous-Alexander solidified his hold on the NBA's scoring lead by dropping in 51 points to carry the Oklahoma City Thunder to their 50th win of the season, a 137-128 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday. (More Sports News)
Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the contest averaging a league-best 32.3 points per game, reached the 50-point mark for the fourth time this season. No other player has hit that total more than once in 2024-25.
Jalen Williams added 24 points and Chet Holmgren had 11 along with 11 rebounds as Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City (50-11) joined the Cleveland Cavaliers as the NBA's only 50-win teams thus far.
The Rockets were dealt a second straight loss while playing without All-Star center Alperen Sengun and three other starters in Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Amen Thompson. Cam Whitmore paced Houston with 27 points and 11 rebounds and rookie Reed Sheppard had a career-high 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting.
Despite their depleted lineup, the Rockets owned a 29-21 lead just over 10 minutes in before the Thunder closed out the first quarter on a 9-2 run to get to within 31-30.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 20 first-quarter points and eight more in the second as Oklahoma City took a 63-62 edge into the break before starting to pull away in the third quarter.
Gilgeous-Alexander remained on fire following the intermission, as he poured in 17 third-quarter points on 6-of-9 shooting as the Thunder stretched its advantage to 102-89 entering the fourth.
The Rockets cut the deficit to six points early in the fourth quarter, but Luguentz Dort capped an 8-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers that stretched the Thunder's lead to 120-106 with under seven minutes left.
Irving sprains knee in Mavericks' blowout loss to Kings
Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan combined for 42 points as the Sacramento Kings stayed hot with a 122-98 rout of the scuffling Dallas Mavericks, who lost another star player to injury when guard Kyrie Irving exited in the first quarter with a left knee sprain.
Irving was injured when fouled on a drive to the basket with 2:35 left in the first quarter, and did not return to the game after briefly staying in to make both free throws. Dallas, which has now lost four of five, is already without All-Star forward Anthony Davis as well as a number of its other top post players.
The Kings, meanwhile, ran their winning streak to four games despite playing without standout center Domantas Sabonis due to a hamstring injury. All five Sacramento starters scored in double figures to offset his absence, with LaVine tallying 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting and DeRozan finishing with 20 points.
Jonas Valanciunas started in Sabonis' place and contributed 14 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes.
Up 27-24 after one quarter, the Kings began the second on a 7-0 run to push their lead to double digits and went into half-time holding a 60-50 advantage behind 15 points each from DeRozan and Keegan Murray.
Sacramento put the game out of reach by the midway stage of the third quarter, stringing together a 16-0 run that extended its lead to 79-54. Valanciunas had six points during the flurry, which LaVine finished with five consecutive points.
Curry returns to Charlotte, helps Warriors keep rolling
Stephen Curry returned to his home town to record 21 points and 10 assists and help the surging Golden State Warriors to a 119-101 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
The Charlotte native and two-time NBA MVP was one of five Golden State players to score in double figures as the Warriors never trailed en route to a sixth win in seven games. The victory moved Golden State into sole possession of sixth place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Golden State also received 22 points off the bench from Buddy Hield and double-doubles from Brandin Podziemski and Draymond Green. Podziemski finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Green registered 16 points and 12 rebounds along with seven assists.
The Hornets, who own the NBA's second-worst record at 14-46, were handed a seventh straight loss despite Miles Bridges' 35 points. LaMelo Bell had 25 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for Charlotte, while Mark Williams pulled down 13 rebounds to go along with 12 points.
Curry scored seven first-quarter points as the Warriors built a lead as high바카라 웹사이트as 13 points in the opening period before ultimately taking a 28-21 advantage into the second. The future Hall of Famer led all Golden State players with 11 first-half points as the Warriors went into the intermission바카라 웹사이트up 58-49.
The Hornets managed to close the gap in the third quarter by putting together an 8-0 run to pull to within 65-63 with 4:40 left in the period. The Warriors responded with a 10-1 spurt, capped by a Curry 3-pointer, and went into the fourth holding an 86-77 lead.
Podziemski and Hield then began the fourth quarter with consecutive 3-pointers and Golden State maintained a double-digit margin the rest of the way.
