Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pursuing record against restored Boston Celtics

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 March 12 (March 13 morning, Singapore time) in the National Basketball Association (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 home win over the Denver Nuggets on March 9.

The Thunder are on a six-game winning streak, their longest since starting the season 24-1. The current run coincides with Gilgeous-Alexander’s return from missing nine games with an abdominal strain, although 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.”

The March 12 meeting is the first of the season between the teams.

While the Thunder are working to hold off the San Antonio Spurs atop the Western Conference, the second-placed Celtics are trying to catch the leading Detroit Pistons in the East.

Boston are coming off a nine-point loss to the Spurs on March 10 but have won 14 of their last 18.

The clash 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 per cent since his return, but has yet to play more than 27min 10sec 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.”

In NBA action on March 11, 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 in Inglewood.

Elsewhere, Nikola Jokic had 16 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds while Jamal Murray scored a game-high 30 points as the hosts Denver beat the Houston Rockets 129-93. REUTERS