Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, Oklahoma City had a 33-4 run and the defending champion Thunder routed the Utah Jazz 144-112 on Friday night in NBA Cup play to improve to 16-1 and push their winning streak to eight<\/p>\n
SALT LAKE CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, Oklahoma City had a 33-4 run and the defending champion Thunder routed the Utah Jazz 144-112 on Friday night in NBA Cup play to improve to 16-1 and push their winning streak to eight.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander was shooting less than 27% on 3-pointers after seven games but has made half his long-range shots since then and all three attempts from beyond the arc against Utah to go along with 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 10 of 12 from the line.<\/p>\n
Isaiah Joe scored 16 points and Jaylin Williams made five 3s for a season-high 15 points for Oklahoma City. The Thunder \u2014 2-0 in the NBA Cup \u2014 shot 61.4% from the field and a season-best 62.2% on 3s, making 23 of 37.<\/p>\n
Keyonte George scored 20 points and Lauri Markkanen added 19 for Utah. The Jazz are 5-10 overall and 0-3 in tournament play.<\/p>\n
The Thunder forced 28 turnovers and turned them into 44 points, disrupting the Jazz sets and visibly frustrating Utah’s players.<\/p>\n
Utah led 84-77 before the Thunder finished the third quarter on the 33-4 run, including 22 points in a row. Oklahoma City is the league\u2019s best third-quarter team and showed it by forcing nine turnovers with suffocating pressure defense while shooting 9 for 13 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 as OKC outscored Utah 43-20 in the period. Incredibly, Utah led by 18 points (39-21) before OKC led by 36 late in the game.<\/p>\n
The Jazz scored 44 points in the first quarter, more than any team has tallied in any quarter against the Thunder this season, to lead 44-30.<\/p>\n
The Jazz led the entire first half but the Thunder closed to 68-67 and Coach Mark Daigneault was assessed a technical foul arguing a non-call at the halftime buzzer. <\/p>\n
Thunder: Host Portland on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Jazz: Host the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
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