The Oklahoma City Thunder, fueled by big games from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren, on Thursday opened their NBA campaign with a dominant 102-87 victory over Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in Denver.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who was runner-up to Jokic in Most Valuable Player award voting last season, scored 28 points, while Holmgren added 25 points, a career-high 14 rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals for the Thunder, who led by as many as 20 points.
Oklahoma City withstood a triple-double from Jokic, who claimed his third Most Valuable Player trophy in four years last season. The Serbian star scored 16 points with 12 rebounds and 13 assists, but the Nuggets connected on just 35.4 percent of their shots from the field — making just 15 of 54 shots in the second half as the Thunder romped home.
Photo: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / USA Today
Oklahoma City and Denver finished with matching 57-25 records last season, the Thunder claiming top seed in the Western Conference on a tiebreaker, but falling to Dallas in the conference semi-finals.
Holmgren impressed on both ends of the floor, blocking a shot by Jokic in the third quarter and sprinting for a dunk.
“I’m just trying to go out there and execute, and help make winning plays, and we put enough of them together tonight to come away with a win,” Holmgren said.
Four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson scored 22 points on his Dallas debut to give reigning Western Conference champions the Mavericks a boost in their 120-109 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Slovenian star Luka Doncic scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mavs, who fell to the Boston Celtics in last season’s NBA Finals and acquired Thompson in a free-agent deal in the off-season with the hope of going even further this season.
Thompson, who won four titles in 13 seasons with the Golden State Warriors, was delighted with his first outing for the Mavs.
“Couldn’t ask for a better start,” Thompson told broadcaster TNT. “Just sharing the flow with [Kyrie Irving], Luka and the rest of the guys — very special after a hard month of really good work, but it’s just a small step for where we want to go.”
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, aiming to build on last season’s Rookie of the Year campaign, connected on just five of 18 shots from the field on the way to 17 points.
The Spurs also coughed up 19 turnovers leading to 17 points for the Mavericks.
Chris Paul, an 11-time All-Star point guard brought in to lend veteran experience to the young San Antonio squad, scored all of his points on a lone three-pointer, finishing one of six from the field with eight assists.
Elsewhere, reigning champions the Boston Celtics, coming off a season-opening rout of the New York Knicks, got off to a slow start against last season’s second-worst team Washington, who led by as many as eight points early on.
It was tied at 51-51 with five minutes left in the second quarter, but Boston closed the first half on a 13-3 run and cruised from there to a 122-102 victory.
Jaylen Brown celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring 27 points and Jayson Tatum added 25 with 11 rebounds for Boston, who had 19 points from Derrick White.
“This was our first road game ... we started off a little slow, but we stayed the course and we were able to get the win,” Brown said.
In Thursday’s other game, the Minnesota Timberwolves edged the Sacramento Kings 117-115.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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