WASHINGTON: Oklahoma City stretched the NBA’s best win streak to 13 games with a home victory Thursday while the reigning champion Boston Celtics held on for a last-shot win at Minnesota.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had game highs of 29 points and eight assists to spark the Thunder over the Los Angeles Clippers 116-98 at Oklahoma City, improving the Western Conference leaders to 28-5.
The Thunder’s win streak is the longest since the team relocated from Seattle after the 2007-08 season.
“It’s just being present, going day by day, working on ourselves and I think we’re doing a good job on that,” said Isaiah Hartenstein, who added 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Thunder.
Oklahoma City trailed 52-48 at half-time but outscored the Clippers 42-20 in the third quarter and Los Angeles never closed the gap.
“We wanted to come out and just pick up the pressure,” Hartenstein said. “We weren’t playing the way we wanted, with the force we wanted. We wanted to pressure them and I think we did a good job of that.”
At Minneapolis, the Celtics were without Jaylen Brown due to a right shoulder strain and Kristaps Porzingis with an ankle sprain but won for the third time in four games to start a difficult road trip, dispatching the Timberwolves 118-115.
Jayson Tatum sparked Boston with 33 points on 13-of-27 shooting, 6-of-17 from 3-point range, and added eight rebounds and nine assists.
“No JB. No KP. We’ve had a rough stretch this last eight or nine games,” Tatum said. “So this January we’re going to try to turn it around and get back to our identity.
“What better way than to come in on the road in a tough environment against a really good team down two of your best players and the way that we responded, figured out a way to win, we will take that any day.”
The Celtics (25-9) made only four turnovers while forcing 16 by the Timberwolves (17-16), who made it close by outscoring Boston 20-4 at the free throw line.
The T-Wolves led 35-28 after 12 minutes, matching their top-scoring first quarter of the season, but the Celtics pulled ahead 62-51 at half-time.
Minnesota capped a 20-7 run with a 3-pointer by Donte DiVincenzo to pull level at 94-94 with 9:16 remaining.
DiVincenzo sank three free throws with 28 seconds to play to pull the Timberwolves within 118-115 and Minnesota got the ball after a Tatum miss with 3.1 seconds remaining.
“Rule number one. If you leave it short, it never has a chance to go in,” Tatum said,
Anthony Edwards missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Boston the victory.
“Just had to stick with it,” Tatum said of Boston’s defensive work. “They were hitting some tough shots. You’ve got to live with something, can’t take everything away. Stick to the game plan, compete.”
Derrick White added 26 points for Boston. Julius Randle led Minnesota with 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
The Celtics began a four-game road swing against top clubs with future stops at Houston, Oklahoma City and Denver.
“I love the way we competed. Our physicality was on point. That’s what it’s going to take,” Tatum said.
“We play four really good, difficult teams on the road. We’re going to need everybody in these games.”
Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton scored 33 points and added 15 rebounds to lead the Pacers over host Miami 128-115. Myles Turner added 21 points and Pascal Siakam contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana.
Brooklyn’s Cameron Johnson scored 26 points and Cam Thomas added 24 off the bench as the Nets won 113-110 at Milwaukee.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for the Bucks while Damian Lillard added 23 points but the Milwaukee stars missed shots late to doom a late rally.
Lillard’s jumper pulled the Bucks within 111-110 with 37 seconds remaining, but after a Brooklyn turnover, Antetokounmpo missed a driving layup attempt and Ziaire Williams sank two free throws to give the Nets a 113-110 edge with six seconds to play.
Lillard missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
