Thunder bag No. 14 after halting Knicks
OKLAHOMA CITY—Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to their 14th consecutive NBA victory, a 117-107 home win over the New York Knicks on Friday.
The Thunder matched the longest win streak in franchise history from the 1995-96 season, when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics, and snapped New York’s nine-game win streak, the Knicks’ longest since 2013.
It was only the fourth time in the NBA’s 79-year history that teams on win streaks of nine or more games faced each other.
Gilgeous-Alexander hit 12-of-26 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, while Jalen Williams added 20 points and Aaron Wiggins had 19 off the bench as Thunder reserves outscored the Knicks bench, 35-5.
“They made big plays all night,” said Gilgeous-Alexander of his bench. “We’re a roster of 15 men, 15 professionals, 15 really skilled basketball players. Guys were ready for their moment.”
The Knicks closed the second quarter on a 23-10 run for a 66-54 halftime lead, with Mikal Bridges scoring 19 of his team-high 24 points in the first half.
But the Thunder pulled within 88-80 entering the fourth quarter, and an 8-0 Oklahoma City run capped by an Isaiah Joe three-pointer pulled the hosts ahead, 92-91, with 8:15 to play.
“Our [halftime] message was just stick to our identity. We’ve gone down at halftime the past two or three games. We’ve been there before. We know it’s a long game, a lot of things can change,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
