After a round match in which they had the initiative from start to finish, the Thunder beat the Mavericks 118-104 and are now semi-finalists of the NBA Cup, where they will compete for a place in the final with the winner of the Houston Rockets -Golden State Warriors. The Oklahoma team completed a brilliant game in defense, especially in the task of minimizing Luka Doncic who could only contribute 16 points, accompanied by 11 rebounds.
The Slovenian only made 5 of 15 field goals and lost six balls, clearly outnumbered by the marking of Luguentz Dort and on occasions by Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace. Neither were the 19 points from Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall nor the 17 from Kyrie Irving enough.
One more day, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Mark Daigneault’s team with an impeccable score of 39 points, nine rebounds and five assists, in addition to 62.5% shooting from the field and three steals. . The Canadian had Jalen Williams as his main partner, although the entire starting quintet reached at least ten points. The Thunder have a record of 19-5 this season and are first in the Western Conference.
The Bucks, recovered after a worrying start to the season, did their homework with a 114-109 victory against the Magic, who fought until the end despite the losses of Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. In the Milwaukee franchise, Giannis Antetokounmpo (37 points and seven rebounds) and Damian Lillard (28 points and nine assists) were most responsible for the happy ending for their team. Bobby Portis also stood out with a double-double (22 points and ten rebounds).
Those from Wisconsin reached the semifinals of the NBA Cup and are sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 13-11. His rival will come from the New York Knicks-Atlanta Hawks. On the Orlando side, the offerings of Jalen Suggs (32 points and nine rebounds), Anthony Black (17 points) and Goga Bitadze (12 points and 14 rebounds) stood out.
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