The Oklahoma City Thunder have one foot in the NBA Cup finals after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-105 on Thursday with 40 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, while the Boston Celtics snapped the Detroit Pistons’ winning streak with a 117-113 victory.
Thursday’s game was the penultimate day of the NBA Cup before the finals, with no team able to join the already qualified Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers, but with the Celtics, Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers officially eliminated.
OKC dominates Western playoffs
The game in Oklahoma City was a rematch of the recent Western Conference Finals.
The Timberwolves (10-8) put up a fight, but lacked something to really trouble the all-powerful Thunder, who have only lost one game out of 19 played.
Gilgeous-Alexander played despite being listed as “doubtful” on the injury list for the Thunder, who move to 3-0 in their NBA Cup group.
For the Timberwolves Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, 14 of them in the fourth quarter.
The champion (Bucks) gets complicated
The Milwaukee Bucks (8-11), the reigning NBA Cup champions, made their passage to the finals more difficult after losing 106-103 to the Miami Heat (13-6), who are currently the leaders of their group.
This after closing their four games with a 3-1 record.
It was Erik Spoelstra’s 800th win as head coach.
A win fueled by Tyler Herro’s 29 points and Bam Adebayo’s double-double (17 points and 11 rebounds).
The Bucks are in crisis, with six straight losses, the last four without the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Ryan Rollins and Myles Turner were their top scorers, with 26 and 24 points, respectively.
No record for Detroit
Cade Cunningham scored 42 points for the Pistons (15-3), although he missed a free throw that would have tied the game at 115 with less than four seconds remaining.
The Pistons had only won 13 games twice before – in the 1989-90 and 2003-04 seasons – both of which they ended up as champions.
For the Celtics (10-8), officially out of the NBA Cup despite their win, Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and Derrick White 27 after pounding three-pointers (6 of 8) for the Pistons in the second half.
Detroit, 2-1 on the glass, will play the Orlando Magic, who are 3-0, for a berth in the finals on Friday.
Farewell to the cup and maybe to Curry
Stephen Curry limped off to the locker room before the end of the game after several minutes of discomfort.
The Houston Rockets, without Kevin Durant, won in San Francisco 100-104, but both teams were eliminated.
The Rockets (11-4) rallied from 14 points down in the third quarter with Reed Sheppard having the game of his life with 31 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
Curry was held to just 14 points for the Warriors (10-9), who had Jimmy Butler top scoring with 21 points.
Also, in New Orleans, the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Pelicans 128-133 in overtime.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Raptors picked up their ninth win over the Indiana Pacers (97-95) on a Brandon Ingram basket with less than a second remaining.
In Portland, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Trail Blazers 102-115.
De’Aaron Fox for San Antonio and Deni Avdija for Portland finished with 37 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists each.
The New York Knicks beat the Charlotte Hornets 101-129 and the Phoenix Suns defeated the Sacramento Kings 100-112.
With information from EFE
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