OKLAHOMA CITY –<\/p>\n
With just eight games remaining in the regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder passed another late-season test Monday night.<\/p>\n
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points, and the Thunder pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat the New York Knicks 111-100 at Paycom Center in what had the feel of a potential NBA Finals preview.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City led early behind Gilgeous-Alexander, who once again sparked the offense. The Thunder carried a narrow 59-54 lead into halftime before the game tightened throughout the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Jalen Williams helped stabilize Oklahoma City during key stretches, finishing with 22 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting performance. He also went a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line while continuing to build rhythm following his recent return.<\/p>\n
New York made its push late. Karl-Anthony Towns converted a three-point play in the fourth quarter to cut the Thunder lead to one. But Oklahoma City quickly responded.<\/p>\n
Alex Caruso knocked down a timely three-pointer, and moments later, Gilgeous-Alexander delivered the dagger with a clutch three to help seal the win.<\/p>\n
After the game, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said execution made the difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a game that required a high level of execution and focus,\u201d Daigneault said. \u201cEven on a night where we didn\u2019t score it crazy, I thought our intention on offense was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander credited the team\u2019s defensive effort late.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just hunkered down defensively in the fourth quarter,\u201d he said. \u201cThey threw zone at us in the fourth. It stalled us a little bit, but we still got quality possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jalen Williams also continues to show progress as he works back toward full strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust getting back to being fully ready to go,\u201d Williams said. \u201cMy minutes have gotten extended, and I\u2019ve been able to play close to my normal stretch. Just rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n
News 9\u2019s Steve McGehee reported from Paycom Center that Oklahoma City once again showed its ability to win tight games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d McGehee said. \u201cBut Oklahoma City is known for winning close games, and that was the case tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The win keeps Oklahoma City atop the Western Conference standings. The Thunder lead San Antonio by two and a half games with seven games remaining. The Spurs have won eight straight, keeping pressure on OKC in the race for the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n
The Thunder now face a busy stretch, hosting the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons next, followed by a matchup with Luka Don\u010di\u0107, LeBron James and the Lakers later this week.<\/p>\n
With the playoffs approaching and players getting healthy, Oklahoma City continues to position itself for another deep postseason run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY – With just eight games remaining in the regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder passed another…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-688090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-oklahoma","11":"tag-oklahoma-city","12":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","13":"tag-oklahomacity","14":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","15":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116318707768458681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688090","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=688090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}