Portland will long remember its trip to Oklahoma City, where the Thunder have never lived up to their name so well. The Trail Blazers took lightning and lightning, all at once, and entered the books, but certainly not in the most glorious of ways, suffering the fifth-greatest rout in NBA history. Beaten 139-77, a -62 which makes you want to hide very far away, Portland did not exist for a second, before completely exploding in the third quarter (43-17). “It was like a perfect storm that fell on us,” summed up, stunned, the coach of the laminates, Chauncey Billups.
At the other end of the table, obviously, there was a lot of laughter. With this historic success, the largest in the franchise, the Thunder catches up with the Wolves at the top of the Western Conference (26-11) and places its ambitions firmly on the table, after a demonstration finished at 57% success, a resounding 14 out of 35 behind the arc and a farandole of 41 assists! “I think we overcame some obstacles this evening,” Mark Daigneault, the satisfied OKC coach, modestly noted at the exit.
In the carousel, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points, Josh Giddey achieved his ninth career triple-double (13 pts, 10 rebounds, 12 assists) and Ousmane Dieng made a small place for himself. Not appearing on an NBA floor since December 24, the French winger played 23 minutes and produced a nice stats sheet (9 pts, 6 rebounds, 3 assists). OKC’s other Frenchy, Olivier Sarr, did not appear on the match sheet. In the midst of the disaster, the Blazers’ French back, Rayan Rupert, scrounged up twelve minutes of playing time for his eleventh NBA game (3 pts, 3 rebounds, 2 assists).
44 points pour Kyrie Irving
Evan Fournier continues to follow the affairs of the Knicks from afar and did not come into play during New York’s defeat on the floor of the Dallas Mavericks (128-124). Pushed back eighteen lengths at the end of the first quarter, New York revolted in the last, even coming back to a point 1’08” from the end, without nevertheless managing to make the switch, and finally defeated on a winning shot from Josh Green 25 seconds from time.
For Dallas, this success, acquired without its star Luka Doncic (injured ankle) and two other starters, Derek Lively II and Dante Exum, is significant and rewarding, against the Knicks who remained on five consecutive victories. Especially since Kyrie Irving, not always the most consistent of the bunch, was able to cheerfully raise his level of play and responsibility for the occasion, finishing the match with 44 points and 10 assists, his offensive record of the season.
2024-01-12 07:29:08
#NBA #OKC #fouls #Portland #Dallas #dominates #York
