Los Oklahoma City Thunder They gave a monumental beating 138-89 to the Phoenix Suns in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup, a real coup of authority to return to Las Vegas for the second year.
49 lead in a Cup tie, the biggest blowout of the season in the NBA.
The current champions thus equaled the best start to a season in NBA history, that of the Golden State Warriors in the 2015-16 campaign, with a record of 24-1 in their first 25 games.
The Thunder await the winner of the duel between the Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs in the Western semifinals, which will be played next in Los Angeles.
Oklahoma City closed the third quarter with a cushion of 38 points (110-72) and Mark Daigneault decided to bench all his starters for the last 12 minutes.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 28 points and 8 assists. Chet Holmgren contributed 24 points and 8 rebounds.
Shai thus completed 96 consecutive games with 20 points or more, 30 shy of Wilt Chamberlain's historic mark, in force since 1963.
All of Oklahoma City's starters finished the night between 50 and 80% correct, with a huge 73.3% for Gilgeous-Alexander and 69.2% for Holmgren.
Bloodbath in Oklahoma
Virtually invincible since they won their first ring, the Thunder took this NBA Cup playoffs as the ideal setting to send an intimidating message: their reign is not in question.
They did not give the Suns a chance – always trailing on the scoreboard – and put the ball in the way from the first quarter, punishing Phoenix with triples and with stratospheric success from all positions on the court.
With a run of 14-2 they were 36-16 in the first quarter. They closed the second quarter with another 20-6 run to make it 74-48.
The Thunder closed the first half with four three-pointers in a row. Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort twice and Jalen Williams at the buzzer. Absolutely demoralizing.
At halftime, the Thunder were shooting 60.5% from the field (26 of 46), including 68.4% on three-pointers (13 of 19).
A 6-0 run to start the third quarter made it clear that they were not going to allow surprises in the second half. In fact, they extended their advantage to +43 (105-62) shortly after closing the quarter, a massacre in a match of this caliber.
The substitutes were not far behind: Daigneault gave them the reins in the last quarter and they expanded the cushion to a maximum of +53 (138-85) with just under two minutes remaining. Ousmane Dieng and Branden Carlson each contributed 11 points in that final stretch.
Today, the Thunder imposed fear heading into the final four in Las Vegas. Finalists last year against the Milwaukee Bucks, it will be very difficult for them to miss out on the title this time.
