Thunder slam Suns, grab 2-0 lead

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points to propel the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 120-107 victory over Phoenix and a 2-0 lead in their National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff series, as Detroit topped Orlando to knot their series at 1-1 on Wednesday.

Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers as the defending champion Thunder took a commanding lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series with another comprehensive victory.

“Shai made the right play all night,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “His floor game was outstanding. He seemed to spray it all over the place, had a great tempo and got us really good shots.”

Chet Holmgren scored 11 of his 19 points in the third quarter, when he also produced three of his four blocked shots.

Jalen Williams also scored 19, but the forward — limited to just 33 games in the regular season — exited in the third quarter, the team saying he apparently aggravated a hamstring injury.

The Thunder, trying to become the first repeat NBA champions since Golden State in 2017 and 2018, didn’t miss a beat.

They pushed their lead to as many as 26 points early in the fourth quarter and repelled a Suns surge that saw Phoenix cut the deficit to 10 with less than four minutes remaining.

“All we can do is play next man up, and we built that muscle throughout the season pretty well,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of the latest injury to Williams. “I’m super confident in this team to be able to go and get the job done no matter who’s out there.”

Gilgeous-Alexander, a finalist for MVP again this season and the newly named Clutch Player of the Year for his performances late in close games, had an injury scare himself in the first quarter.

He came up wincing and holding his left hand after a hard fall under the basket but said after the game there was no lasting damage.

“I’m great,” he said. “Ready to go.”

Dillon Brooks scored 30 points and Devin Booker added 22 for the Suns, who will try to turn things around when they host games three and four.

In Detroit, the Pistons used dominant defense and a third-quarter scoring spree to beat the Orlando Magic 98-83.