OKLAHOMA CITY – The battle at the top of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Western Conference is heating up, following the Oklahoma City Thunder’s home loss to the Indiana Pacers on March 12.
Myles Turner scored 24 points as Indiana snapped the West leaders’ three-game winning streak with a 121-111 win.
The result meant that the Thunder dropped to 45-20, level with champions the Denver Nuggets and just ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves (45-21).
Turner led a balanced offensive effort for the Pacers that saw six players post double-digit points tallies, as they shrugged off a fiercely partisan Oklahoma City crowd to open up a 16-point lead near the end of the first half.
Although the Thunder rallied with a 41-point third quarter to take a fleeting one-point lead, Indiana regrouped to pull away again and close out the victory.
Turner was backed with 18 points and 12 assists from Tyrese Haliburton while Pascal Siakam added 18 points and 11 rebounds for the visitors.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder scorers with 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
“We got off to a great start and we were able to lock in. It was a team effort,” said Turner, adding that Indiana had revelled in the intimidating atmosphere at Oklahoma City’s 18,000-seat Paycom Centre.
“It’s one of the loudest places to play... It’s a hostile environment, a play-off-like atmosphere.
“But we enjoy that. Also, we’re a good team that score a lot of points, too. That’s mostly what this league has come to.
“The difference tonight was our defence. Whenever we lock in on that side, it’s a different game for us.”
Indiana improved to 37-29 to move into sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
Oklahoma City’s defeat was only their third in their last 13 games.
“Just too many possessions where we weren’t leveraging each other and working together, which is a good lesson,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
“The game gets a lot harder when we do that. So again, we got to learn from it. We’re not going to be perfect every night. There’re lessons in every game. We’re gonna learn them from this one.”
The Timberwolves drew level with Oklahoma City and Denver on 45 wins after digging out a 118-100 road triumph over the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Clippers took a commanding 22-point lead midway through the second quarter but were unable to respond after Minnesota rallied after half-time, outscoring Los Angeles 63-37 in the final two quarters.
“This team believes in each other, no matter who we put on the floor. They root hard for each other,” said Minnesota coach Chris Finch, whose side lost their previous two games.
“It’s good for us to get a win like this, because we’ve been struggling a little bit in the last couple of games to find some consistent energy, and tonight we definitely had it.”
The East-leading Boston Celtics shrugged off the absence of Kristaps Porzingis, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford to wrap up their gruelling West Coast road trip with an emphatic 123-107 win over the Utah Jazz. Jayson Tatum was once again the focal point of the Celtics offence, finishing with 38 points as Boston swept to their 51st win of the season.
Derrick White backed Tatum with 24 points while four other Boston players finished in double figures.
Keyonte George was the pick of the Utah scorers with 26 points.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla praised his understrength team’s ability to deliver.
“The fact that the last couple of games everybody is stepping up – it’s just what we’re trying to build,” he said.
“A culture, an environment in the locker room where it doesn’t matter who’s in, everybody is ready to play at any time.”
The Milwaukee Bucks, second in the East on 42-24, lost ground on Boston after suffering a 129-94 defeat by the Sacramento Kings on the road.
Sacramento star De’Aaron Fox finished with 29 points, while Malik Monk chipped in with 25 off the bench as Milwaukee’s porous defence was exposed once more. AFP
