Thunder roll past Pelicans

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder breezed past the New Orleans Pelicans to maintain their lead in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference on Monday as the Detroit Pistons rolled to a 10th straight win to extend their advantage at the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

The defending NBA champion Thunder improved to 14-1 for the season with a 126-109 victory on the road in New Orleans, thanks to 26 points from Chet Holmgren while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander chipped in with 23.

The game was effectively sealed in the opening quarter, as Oklahoma City poured in a franchise-record 49 points to take the game away from New Orleans.

Once again, Oklahoma City’s balanced offense proved decisive, with six players finishing in double digits in a wire-to-wire victory.

Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander has now logged 87 consecutive games in which he has scored 20 points or more.

Only NBA great Wilt Chamberlain, who leads the all-time rankings with 20-point game scoring streaks of 92 and 126 games, has achieved more.