The Oklahoma City Thunder, where young French interior Ousmane Dieng is gradually finding his feet, beat defending champion Denver on Saturday at the buzzer, 118-117. Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (25 pts) and Jalen Williams (24 pts), the Thunder came back with a hurricane at the end of the match, after being 8 points behind with 3 min 33 sec remaining. As for the Nuggets, the double-double of superstar Nikola Jokic (24 points, 12 assists) was not enough to avoid the second defeat at home this season.
Debutant interior Chet Holmgren, presented as the main rival of French prodigy Victor Wembanyama for the title of rookie of the year, came close to the triple-double with 17 points scored, 11 rebounds captured and nine blocks for the Thunder. His contribution on both sides of the floor was valuable in money time.
Stephen Curry scored 16 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, thanks to a perfect skill (7/7 shooting), allowing the Golden State Warriors to resist an express comeback from the Brooklyn Nets (124-120), with also two winning baskets from Klay Thompson in the last four minutes. The Warriors were up to 18 ahead in this game. Despite a new culpable relaxation, which allowed the Nets to take the advantage for the first time at 9:12 from the end in the wake of a lively Cam Thomas (41 pts), the Warriors succeeded thanks to Curry to ending a streak of three consecutive defeats.
This victory will do good for a team which must manage the suspension of its star Draymond Green, guilty of hitting Jusuf Nurkic (Phoenix). Given his history of violence, the NBA suspended him “indefinitely,” specifying that he would have to “meet certain conditions given by the league before he can play again.”
We can’t stop the pack anymore. Rudy Gobert’s Minnesota Timberwolves consolidated their first place in the Western Conference with another 127-109 home victory against Indiana, two days after their success on the Mavericks floor. The two best scorers of the evening were Karl-Anthony Towns (40 pts, but also 12 rebounds) and Anthony Edwards (37 pts). Rudy Gobert, who spent 25 minutes on the floor, finished with 5 points and 7 rebounds. The Wolves have 19 wins for five losses this season, the best record in the League tied with Boston.
Keegan Murray was the star in Sacramento, making 12 three-pointers – two short of Warriors guard Klay Thompson’s all-time single-game record – in the Kings’ big win over the Utah Jazz ( 125-104). Murray, in a state of grace (47 pts in total, his career high), missed only one of his first 13 attempts behind the arc, setting a record with 11 in a row, but missed his last two .