Paul and SGA crushed 131–103 Spurs — in Oklahoma City’s largest victory margin ever against San Antonio
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 22 points, 13 rebounds and four assists, Steven Adams added 21 points and 14 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder demolished the Spurs 131–103 on Sunday night.
Luguentz Dort, a rookie who is on a two-way contract, scored 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting for Oklahoma City Thunder, who won their 12th game in 15 games.
“We are playing unselfishly, and that’s what Coach (Billy Donovan) is telling us to do,” Thunder guard Dennis Schroder said. “Just moving the ball, and people had great shots or (sometimes) good shots, you know, then passing the ball for a great shot. It’s just amazing to see.”
Chris Paul had 12 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, only one rebound short of a triple-double, something that Russell Westbrook had done at Chesapeake Arena last April. Coach Billy Donovan pulled Paul off the game with eight minutes remaining in the clock. The Thunder had a 28-point lead (the score was 109–81) and Donovan desired to rest his All-Star when the game under control. If he got it, then this one would be his 16th career triple-double, but Paul stated that he had no clue about that.
“Oh that’s Billy then. Billy won’t let me be great, man,” Paul said in jest. “But no, it’s cool. Listen man. Me and Shai was on the bench talking about it — that it has been a while since we had a game where we had the chance to rest. We always play close games, so I could care less. I’ll take the rest.”
Spurs had a bad shooting night solely 37% from the field and of course, it hurt them throughout the game. Rudy Gay led the team with 14 points, Marco Belinelli added 13 points. The Thunder were able to make this game a tough one for the both superstars; DeMar DeRozan had only 11 points and center LaMarcus Aldridge (in whom Billy Donovan was focusing and asking to keep him off his comfort zone) notched eight points, shooting just 3 of 10 from the field. This game was Oklahoma City’s largest victory margin ever against San Antonio and let’s also point out that eight Oklahoma City players scored in double figures, something that happened for the first time since moving from Seattle back in 2008.
“We have been playing well, but after that first half, it just looked like they didn’t have any juice,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said after the game. “And in the second half, we were behind the eight ball in a lot of different ways.”
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