(Basketball news) The Oklahoma City Thunder sealed the 9th seed as they stunned the New Orlean Pelicans by beating them 123-118. For the OKC, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 of his 32 points after halftime, including a go-ahead baseline jumper and four clutch free throws in the final 29 seconds as Giddey had 31 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds while Dort scored 27, hitting four 3s and finishing with two clutch free throws in the final seconds.
For the Pelicans, Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and 18 rebounds as Trey Murphy III scored 21 points, Jones had 20 and CJ McCollum 14 while Ingram scored 20 of his 30 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds which left to give them a slim chance to make a come back.
“To start the game, I wasn’t expecting a huge outburst offensively,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I wanted to kind of set the table to make sure my teammates were ready to go, confident and attacking. And I knew once I did that, the defense would have to worry about them as well and my offensive game would open up.”
“We did a great job of not getting rattled” after Brandon Ingram’s putback dunk gave the Pelicans a 110-108 lead, Giddey said. “Nothing ever phased us. It’s such a young group, but it’s such a composed team and that’s how you have to be down the stretch of tight games like that.”
“It’s important to have your guys on the floor,” coach Willie Green said. “It helps your team reach its potential. We didn’t do that this season.”
The Chicago Bulls made a brilliant comeback as they beat the Toronto Raptors 109-105. For the Bulls, Zach LaVine scored 39 points, DeMar DeRozan had 23 against his former team as Nikola Vucevic had 14 points and 13 rebounds. For the Raptors, Fred VanVleet had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Pascal Siakam scored 32 points as Scottie Barnes had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, and O.G. Anunoby scored 13 points. The Raptors shot a dismal 18 for 36 at the free throw line as they missed six attempts from the line in the fourth quarter.
“His performance was extraordinary,” Donovan said. “It gave us life and it gave us hope.”
“They’re going to make adjustments. We are, too,” LaVine said. “It’s going to be whoever wants it more. I think it comes down to that.”
“I thought we played well enough to win tonight but it just didn’t go our way,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
“We’re going to have to be better,” Siakam said. “Not consistent enough and that’s got to change.”
Also read: NBA: Lakers secure the 7th seed with OT win over Timberwolves while Hawks win over Heats
