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The Oklahoma City Thunder jumped into a share of the Western Conference lead as number three NBA scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander netted 37 points to lead the host Thunder over Orlando 112-100.
The Thunder’s win streak stretched to five games and with a record of 27-11 the club matched the Minnesota Timberwolves atop the West.
Josh Giddey scored 12 points with eight rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes in Sunday’s contest (all times AEDT). It included Giddey making his 1000th field goal of his career.
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Two more Aussies took the floor on Sunday, with New Orleans’ Dyson Daniels and Dallas’ Josh Green squaring off.
Daniels’ Pelicans got the win 118-108 despite being without Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum or Trey Murphy on the second end of a back to back.
It meant Daniels drew a spot start, filling up the box score with 10 points, six rebounds and seven assists in 37 minutes to play a key role in the team’s win – New Orleans’ seventh victory from its last nine games to move into the West’s sixth seed.
Elsewhere for the Pels, rookie Jordan Hawkins scored a season-best 34 points, hitting 11-of-19 shots from the floor including 6-of-12 from three-point range.
Kyrie Irving’s 33 points led the Mavericks, who were without Luka Doncic due to an ankle injury. Green scored nine points with six rebounds and four assists.
ELSEWHERE …
Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum added 27 as the Boston Celtics remained unbeaten at home, defeating Houston 145-113 in former Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s return to Boston.
The Celtics improved to an NBA-best 30-9 overall and 19-0 at home, the league’s only undefeated club at home stretching its team-record home win streak to start a season.
Brown, who scored 21 points in the third quarter when the Celtics pulled away to stay, hit 11-of-15 shots from the floor, 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and added six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
“Being aggressive. A lot of times defence gets you going,” Brown said of his third-period success.
“I get it on the run and when we play like that in transition we’re tough to beat.”
Udoka guided the Celtics to the 2022 NBA Finals, where they lost to Golden State, but he was suspended just before the start of the 2022-23 season training camp over an improper relationship with a team staffer.
Udoka ultimately was dropped and replaced by former assistant Joe Mazzulla on a permanent basis last February.
“I’m glad to see Ime back coaching on the sidelines,” Brown said. “I’m glad to see a lot of the staff we spent time with over there in Houston. I wish those guys the best of luck.”
Asked how he reflected on his departure, Udoka said, “Job not finished. The relationships you build and the people you impact, so that would be the biggest thing.”
When it came to his regrets, Udoka was equally matter-of-fact.
“The biggest thing I’d say overall is letting some people down, for sure,” Udoka said. “But we’ve talked it out and I’ve seen a lot of these people throughout the summer and talk regularly and so we move past it.”
Jokic hits 12th triple-double for Denver | 00:52
Mazzulla played down the impact of Udoka’s return with the Rockets, who hired him as head coach last April.
“The fact Ime is back is great,” he said. “But I don’t think that really has anything to do with winning or losing.” Both were important to the Celtics after being thumped 135-102 at Milwaukee on Friday.
“Last game we didn’t feel like we were at our best,” Brown said. “We wanted to come out and make sure we stayed undefeated on the home court.”
At Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 33 points, Damian Lillard added 27 and Khris Middleton netted 24 with 10 assists to lead the Bucks over visiting Golden State 129-118.
Jonathan Kuminga scored 28 off the bench to lead the Warriors, who rested star guard Stephen Curry.
Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 16 rebounds while DeMar DeRozan added 20 points to lead the Bulls over host San Antonio 122-116.
Tre Jones scored 30 points to lead the Spurs, who were without French rookie star Victor Wembanyama, who is playing restricted minutes due to an ankle injury.
In Atlanta, Kyle Kuzma scored 29 points and the Washington Wizards (7-31) snapped a six-game losing streak with a 127-99 victory over the host Hawks.
Playing without LeBron James due to a left ankle injury, the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the in-form Utah Jazz 132-125 to fall outside the play-in.
With it, LA since its In-Season Tournament triumph has fallen from the six seed to the 11th – a period in which it’s ranked 21st in defensive rating, 23rd in offensive rating and 25 in net rating, per StatMuse.
Lauri Markkanen and Colin Sexton combined for 56 points for the Jazz in the win, while D’Angelo Russell top-scored with 39 points to go with eight assists and Anthony Davis racked up a triple-double (15 points, 15 boards, 11 assists) with four blocks.
Utah claimed its fifth-straight win – including its eight victory from its from nine games and 11 from 13 – to improve to 21-20 on the season.
ALL RESULTS
ROCKETS 113 CELTICS 145
WIZARDS 127 HAWKS 99
MAGIC 100 THUNDER 112
WARRIORS 118 BUCKS 129
KNICKS 106 GRIZZLIES 94
BULLS 122 SPURS 116
PELICANS 118 MAVERICKS 108
LAKERS 125 JAZZ 132
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