dyton mupawaenda
SHAI Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 136-120 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
The Thunder (65-14) snapped a two-game losing streak — their first of the season — and set a franchise record for victories in a season. The previous record was set in 1995-96 when the franchise was in Seattle.
Lakers star Luka Doncic was ejected just more than four minutes into the fourth quarter when he picked up his second technical foul of the game.
Doncic appeared to say something to a courtside fan before he was called for the technical foul. Both he and teammate LeBron James argued their case but to no avail and Doncic soon headed for the locker room. Doncic, who picked up his first technical in the third quarter, finished with 23 points and five assists.
Doncic had just hit a jumper to put the Lakers ahead 108-107. But after the ejection, Los Angeles went more than three minutes without a field goal as Oklahoma City reeled off a 13-4 run that included 3-pointers from Gilgeous-Alexander and Alex Caruso and a three-point play from Jalen Williams.
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Kristaps Porzingis had 34 points and a career-high-tying eight 3-pointers, including one in the third quarter with a foot on the Knicks’ logo, as visiting Boston downed New York 119-117 in overtime Tuesday night.
With their ninth straight win on the road, the Celtics secured their first four-game regular-season sweep of the Knicks since the 2019-2020 season.
By virtue of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ win over the Chicago Bulls, Boston (59-20) is locked in as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. New York (50-29) needs one more win or an Indiana Pacers loss to lock up the No. 3 seed.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded a triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Milwaukee Bucks stormed back from a 24-point deficit in the fourth quarter to post a 110-103 win over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night.
Kevin Porter Jr. added 21 points off the bench for Milwaukee (45-34), which won its fifth game in a row. Bobby Portis scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his return from a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy.
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Trendon Watford scored 11 of his 22 points in a 43-point third quarter for the Brooklyn Nets, who halted a five-game home losing streak with a 119-114 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night.
The Nets (26-53) earned their first home win since beating the Atlanta Hawks on March 16 and won for the sixth time in their last 20 games thanks in part to Watford, who made seven of eight shots in 23 minutes and finished five points shy of his career high before sitting in the fourth. —Reuters.
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