OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off one of the best games of his career, Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will try to make history when the Thunder host the Boston Celtics on Thursday (Friday morning, Singapore tie) in a matchup of two of the top teams in the NBA.
With 20 or more points, he would break Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA record for consecutive games scoring 20 or more points. Gilgeous-Alexander tied Chamberlain with his 126th such game, scoring 35 points to help lift Oklahoma City to a 129-126 win over Denver on Monday.
The Thunder are on a six-game winning streak, their longest since starting the season 24-1.
The current winning streak coincides with Gilgeous-Alexander’s return from missing nine games with an abdominal strain, though he missed one of the games during the streak on the first night of a back-to-back.
Significantly, the reigning Most Valuable Player has late three-pointers in each of the last three games to help his team to wins in close games.
“He doesn’t change his mindset regardless of circumstances,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said.
“He doesn’t break a sweat doing anything. He never presses. He’s just got an unbelievable awareness of the circumstances, awareness of the length of the game. I think that’s one of his superpowers is he understands how long the game is and so he can make the right play knowing that he’ll get his cracks.”
Thursday’s meeting is the first of the season between the teams.
While the Thunder are working to hold off San Antonio atop the Western Conference, the Celtics are working to catch Detroit in the Eastern Conference.
Boston are coming off a nine-point loss to the Spurs on Tuesday but have won 14 of their last 18.
Thursday’s game will be their fourth since the return of Jayson Tatum after missing the first 62 games with a ruptured Achilles. He is averaging 19.7 points and shooting 39.3% since his return, but has yet to play more than 27:10 in a game.
“I could play more,” Tatum said. “But I understand the bigger picture. In the moment, I’m not thinking about my Achilles. I’m trying to compete, I’m trying to be out there, but it’s part of the plan, so I’ve got to stick with it.”
Meanwhile in NBA action on Wednesday, Kawhi Leonard scored 45 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 22 as the Los Angeles Clippers remained a red-hot 6-1 in March with a 153-128 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Inglewood.
Elsewhere, Nikola Jokic had 16 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds, Jamal Murray scored a game-high 30 points, and the host Denver Nuggets beat Houston 129-93. REUTERS