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10/23 00:00 CDT Thunder overcome SGA's shooting woes to beat Nuggets 96-84 in
home opener
Thunder overcome SGA's shooting woes to beat Nuggets 96-84 in home opener
By TIM WILLERT
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) --- Jalen Williams scored 21 points, Chet Holmgren had 12
points and 17 rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder withstood a poor shooting
night from Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander in their home opener to beat the Denver
Nuggets 96-84 on Thursday.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 32 points in a convincing win over San Antonio
on Tuesday night, finished with 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting against Denver.
He failed to score 20 points for the first time in 141 games.
The league's two-time reigning MVP missed all seven shots he took in the first
24 minutes as the Thunder trailed by as many as nine points. A pair of free
throws kept him from going scoreless in a half for the first time since his
rookie year with the Clippers in 2019.
It marked just the fourth time in 450 games with the Thunder he's gone without
a field goal in a half. Gilgeous-Alexander scored the first basket of the third
quarter to pull Oklahoma City to 48-46.
Aaron Gordon scored 20 points and Nikola Jokic and DeMar DeRozan added 13
apiece for Denver, which was playing its first game.
A layup by Mitchell gave the Thunder a 64-62 lead --- their first since 3-0 ---
and 3-pointers by Alex Caruso and Alexander extended it to 70-64 after three
quarters. Oklahoma City extended the advantage to 93-76 on a 3 by
Gilgeous-Alexander to give him 17 points with 1:44 left. He then asked to be
taken out during a timeout and did not return to the game.
Up next Nuggets: Host New Orleans on Saturday night. Thunder: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night. ___ See AP's full NBA coverage here |
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