Thunder humble Kings, clinch 7th straight win


At a glance

  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to their seventh straight win and 60th of the season with a 121-105 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night, March 25.


SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to their seventh straight win and 60th of the season with a 121-105 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night, March 25.

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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, center, drives to the basket past Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) and Keegan Murray (13) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, California, Tuesday, March 25. (AP Photo/Randall Benton)

Chet Holmgren added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Alex Caruso scored 15 to give the NBA-leading Thunder their 14th win in 15 games.

Keegan Murray scored 28 points with nine 3-pointers and Zach LaVine added 19 to lead the Kings. Sacramento has dropped four straight games.

The Thunder broke out to a big lead in the first half that grew to 24 points. The Kings scored 16 straight early in the third quarter to get the deficit back into single digits but were never able to get closer than six the rest of the way.

Oklahoma City then pulled away in a dominant fourth quarter.

Thunder: Oklahoma City is the first NBA team to 60 wins this season and it matched the 2012-13 team for the most wins for the club since leaving Seattle following the 2007-08 season. The franchise record for wins is 64 in 1995-96.

Kings: Sacramento fell to 2-4 on a seven-game homestand and is in serious danger of missing the play-in tournament. The Kings fell into a tie with Phoenix for ninth place in the Western Conference and have only a half-game lead over Dallas for the final play-in spot.

Meanwhile, Darius Garland had 27 points and eight assists to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 122-111 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Ty Jerome scored 25 points off the bench and Evan Mobley had 21 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

Portland’s Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe each had 18 points in the loss.

Cleveland (58-14) has a five-game lead over Boston for first place in the Eastern Conference with 10 games left to play.

Portland (32-41) is 3½ games behind Phoenix for 10th place in the Western Conference and the final spot in the play-in tournament.

The Cavaliers were without star guard Donovan Mitchell, who is managing a left groin injury.

In Houston, Jalen Green scored 32 points ahd had 11 rebounds and the Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 121-114.

Fred VanVleet shot 5 of 14 from the field, including 3 for 8 from 3-point range, and went 8 for 8 from the line to add 21 points. Tari Eason had 14 rebounds.

Dyson Daniels led the Hawks with 19 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and four steals. Trae Young added 19 points and 12 assists for Atlanta.

In New York, Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his first triple-double in more than three years, helping the Knicks defeat the Dallas Mavericks, 128-113.

OG Anunoby had 35 points, and Josh Hart added 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his ninth triple-double of the season. New York (45-26) shot 59.6% and won its second straight.

Naji Marshall had a career-high 38 points, and Brandon Williams chipped in 22 points. The Mavericks (35-38) fell for the 10th time in 13 games.

In Miami, Bam Adebayo scored 27 points, Tyler Herro scored 20 and the Heat spoiled Jimmy Butler’s return game with a one-sided 112-86 win over the Golden State Warriors.

Alec Burks scored 18 for Miami, which never trailed. The Heat were 17 for 25 from 3-point range.

Butler, in his first game back in Miami since a trade last month, had 11 points. Jonathan Kuminga scored 15, Brandin Podziemski had 14 and Gui Santos scored 13 for Golden State.