Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 as the Oklahoma City Thunder used a big late third-quarter push to beat the Chicago Bulls 131-113 at home Friday.
The Thunder trailed by eight with less than four minutes remaining in the third, before taking over.
Oklahoma City then went on a 22-0 run that extended well into the fourth quarter to catch up and pull away from the Bulls.
After Tre Jones’ driving layup that led to a three-point play with 3:57 to go in the third, Chicago missed its next 17 shots, not hitting another until nearly four minutes into the fourth.
The win was the Thunder’s 13th in 14 games and moved them 2.5 games ahead of idle San Antonio for the top overall seed in the Western Conference with eight games remaining for Oklahoma City (58-16).
The loss, their 19th in 24 games, knocked the Bulls out of play-in contention.
Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t efficient, going just 8 of 24 from the field and missing all 10 of his 3-point tries, but he came up big when Oklahoma City needed it.
The reigning Most Valuable Player scored 14 in the third, with eight from the free-throw line.
Cason Wallace, who started in place of Chet Holmgren, was plenty efficient, though, scoring 21 on 8-of-11 shooting, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Holmgren missed the game due to a hip contusion.
Jalen Williams had 18 points, eight assists, and six rebounds, while Jaylin Williams had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Isaiah Hartenstein had 16 boards.
The Bulls, who announced a day earlier that Jaden Ivey and Jalen Smith would miss the remainder of the season, led for much of the game before Oklahoma City’s third-quarter finish.
Isaak Okoro scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half as Chicago led by as many as nine.
Collin Sexton led Chicago with 22 off the bench, while Jones scored 21. Sexton scored 16 of his points before the break.
After shooting 55.6% in the first half, the Bulls (29-44) were just 30.2% from the field in the second half, including 3 of 23 from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
