Josh Giddey has registered his fourth triple-double of the NBA season in a 121-107 comeback defeat of Brooklyn that pushes Oklahoma City into eighth spot on the western convention standings.
Fellow Australians Patty Mills and Ben Simmons watched on as 20-year-old Giddey charged by the paint halfway by the fourth quarter, spun to beat a defender and launched a soar shot that confirmed his second triple-double in eight days.
In scoring his eighth profession triple-double, Giddey was his ordinary busy self beneath the rim, knocking down a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with extra assists than every other Thunder participant (11).
In eight video games this month, Giddey has averaged simply shy of a triple-double with 17.5 factors, 9.1 rebounds and 9.3 assists.
When Giddey drained a deep three-pointer with little greater than two minutes to play, the Thunder had a game-high lead of 14 factors and had sealed a comeback victory after the new-look Nets led by 16 factors simply earlier than halftime.
Brooklyn’s Simmons missed his eleventh straight recreation with knee and again accidents, whereas coach Jacque Vaughn denied Mills any time on the ground.
The Thunder (34-35) have now gained six of their final seven video games and moved from eleventh to eighth place on the western convention standings with their defeat of the Nets.
The groups ranked seventh to tenth in every convention will characteristic within the play-in event, the place they are going to compete for the 2 play-off spots that stay in every convention.
With 13 video games to play, it isn’t out of the query the Thunder may qualify immediately for the play-offs – they’re presently solely two wins behind the sixth-placed LA Clippers.
Things should not trying so rosy for Australian rookie Dyson Daniels and the New Orleans Pelicans, who haven’t gained back-to-back video games in additional than a month and threat dropping out of the race for a similar play-in event.
After taking part in greater than 20 minutes within the Twelfth-placed Pels’ final two video games, Daniels was relegated to a bit-part because the LA Lakers comfortably beat New Orleans 123-108.
LeBron James missed his eighth consecutive recreation with a foot harm.
Elsewhere, the Toronto Raptors upset western convention leaders the Denver Nuggets with a 125-110 dwelling win during which Fred VanVleet had 36 factors.
The Raptors scored 49 factors within the first quarter, a franchise file, handy the slumping Nuggets their fourth-straight loss.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
