OKLAHOMA CITY-. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander He showed off his usual quality. Luka Doncic didn’t make it.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 117-95 on Tuesday. Dallas Mavericks in the first match of the West semifinal.
Chet Holmgren added 19 points, seven rebounds and three blocks for the Thunder, the first seed in the conference.
Gilgeous-Alexander was 8 of 19 from the field, as well as 11 of 13 free throws. He left the game with 3:26 left and with the Thunder up 111-89.
He thus came out better in the duel against Doncic, another finalist for the prize NBA Most Valuable Player.
Doncic scored 19 points, hitting six of 19 shots, and gave away five turnovers. He was asked about his performance in front of the basket.
“Who cares?” he dismissed. “We lost. We simply have to move on to what’s next. We need to improve”.
Jalen Williams struggled for three quarters, but scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma City remained undefeated in the playoffs.
Lu Dort fulfilled a good part of the mission of monitoring Doncic. Rookie Cason Wallace also helped and Holmgren made his life difficult at the rim.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Dort, one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, did his job.
“He is simply a warrior,” Daigneault stressed. “He gives everything every night. Doncic is a really tough opponent and a great player who didn’t have his best night today. He’s going to play better than this. Lu made all this difficult for him. I think our team made the game difficult for him.”
Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and Daniel Gafford added 16, along with grabbing 11 rebounds and five blocks for the fifth-seeded Mavs.
The second game of the series will take place on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
Source: AP
