{"id":651153,"date":"2026-03-10T16:12:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651153\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T16:12:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:12:38","slug":"northwest-notes-sga-dort-jokic-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651153\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwest Notes: SGA, Dort, Jokic, Jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a night when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> had a chance to put his name alongside Wilt Chamberlain in the record books, he wound up doing a lot more than that, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN<\/a>. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points to match Chamberlain\u2019s streak of 126 consecutive 20-point games that was set from 1961-63. He also handed out a career-high 15 assists with no turnovers, joining LeBron James<\/a> as the only players ever to register a 35-15-0 line.<\/p>\n

And SGA capped off the night by drilling a three-pointer in the closing seconds to give the Thunder a dramatic win over Denver. According to MacMahon, he celebrated with an unusual display of emotion, strutting around the court after the final buzzer and waving to the OKC crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even remember what I was saying,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters. \u201cIt just happened so fast. Yeah, it usually doesn\u2019t happen, but tonight called for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacMahon notes that Gilgeous-Alexander has developed into one of the league\u2019s top clutch-time performers. Monday marked his third shot this season to tie a game or put the Thunder ahead in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime, which is tied for the most in the league. He has eight go-ahead baskets in the final 10 seconds over the past five years, which is tops in the NBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust trusting my work, first and foremost, and then just reading the defense,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said of Monday\u2019s game-winner. \u201cObviously, they were sending two [defenders] basically the whole second half, and I knew if I wanted to get an attempt late, I would have to go quick, go fast. And the deeper I drove, the more bodies would come. Yeah, kind of had no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more from the Northwest Division:<\/p>\n

Luguentz Dort<\/a> committed another flagrant foul against Nuggets center Nikola Jokic<\/a> on Monday, but the reaction from this one was less contentious than the incident<\/a> 10 days ago that saw the Thunder forward get ejected, according to Anthony Slater of ESPN<\/a>. Dort swung his left arm while trying to get around a Jokic screen and accidentally hit him in the face. He was whistled for a Flagrant 1 and later apologized to Jokic. \u201cJust lost in the competition,\u201d Dort said. \u201cBut shook his hand, [said] \u2018great game\u2019 and I apologized that that happened.\u201d
\nIn a recent appearance on the X&O\u2019s Chat podcast<\/a>, Jokic said he intends to finish his career with the Nuggets, relays Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops<\/a>. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t even like to imagine that,\u201d he said of the possibility of ever leaving Denver. \u201cI\u2019ve found peace here. My two kids were born here, and my family is here. I\u2019ve built a life. I love it here.\u201d Jokic added that he wouldn\u2019t consider playing in the EuroLeague when his time in the NBA is done.
\nKevin Reynolds of The Salt Lake Tribune<\/a> assesses the chances of the Jazz holding onto this year\u2019s first-round pick after they improved to 20-45 with Monday\u2019s win over Golden State. The pick will convey to the Thunder if it falls outside the top eight, and Utah is relatively safe right now with the fifth-worst record in the league. However, the Jazz are only 1 1\/2 games away from Dallas for seventh place, which would greatly increase the chances of dropping to ninth or worse in the lottery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a night when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a chance to put his name alongside Wilt Chamberlain in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,423,183,6,253,209,422,427,3972],"class_list":{"0":"post-651153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jazz","10":"tag-luguentz-dort","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nikola-jokic","13":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","14":"tag-utah","15":"tag-utah-jazz","16":"tag-utahjazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116205764160630531","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}