Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points with 12 rebounds against his former team and Isaiah Joe added 22 as the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder remained undefeated with a 126-107 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.
Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace each scored 12 points and Chet Holmgren added 11 as the Thunder improved to 8-0 to set a franchise record for longest winning streak to open a season. Oklahoma City won the opener of a four-game road trip.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who had a solid season for the Clippers in 2018-19, was traded to Oklahoma City following his rookie campaign in the deal that brought Paul George to Los Angeles.
James Harden scored 25 points and John Collins added 17 as the short-handed Clippers lost home games on successive nights after falling to the Miami Heat on Monday.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored 16 points and Brook Lopez added 12 for Los Angeles, which was without leading scorer Kawhi Leonard (ankle) and veteran guard Bradley Beal (knee).
Harden wasted no time establishing himself as the Clippers’ main scoring threat when he delivered his team’s first 12 points of the game to spark an early 12-2 lead. Los Angeles led by as many as 13 in the opening quarter.
The Thunder made their run in the second quarter, tying the game 48-48 with 3:39 remaining before halftime and leading by a point for a short time in the final minute before the Clippers took a 57-56 lead into the break.
The Clippers led for the last time at 75-74 with 4:23 remaining in the third after a reverse layup from Bogdan Bogdanovic. Oklahoma City closed the quarter on consecutive 3-pointers from Joe and Gilgeous-Alexander for a 94-86 lead.
The Thunder extended the run to 17-0 to open the fourth and led 105-86 with 9:12 remaining after an alley-oop dunk from Chet Holmgren.
After shooting 46.3% from the floor in the first half, the Thunder shot 52.3% in the game to 41.2% by the Clippers.
–Field Level Media
