Shai Gilgeous-Alexander kept his record-breaking 20-point scoring streak alive as the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled to an eighth straight win with a 116-103 defeat of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Gilgeous-Alexander, who on Thursday eclipsed Wilt Chamberlain's 63-year-old record for consecutive games of scoring 20 points or more, finished with 20 points, 10 assists and three rebounds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Yet the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player left it late before reaching 20 points for the 128th game in a row, with 10 of his points coming in the fourth quarter after he spent long periods struggling for shooting accuracy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Gilgeous-Alexander shot only 7-of-22 from the field but was given scoring support from the Thunder bench, who contributed 61 of Oklahoma City's points, including 20 from Isaiah Joe and 17 from Alex Caruso.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"At the end of the day it's basketball," Gilgeous-Alexander said of his lacklustre shooting display.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I went out there with the same aggression I do every night. More shots didn't fall tonight than do, and usually that's not the case.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"But some nights go your way, some nights don't. But regardless, I feel like I contributed enough for our team to get the W (win) and that's first and foremost –- walking out of here with a win."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sunday's victory helped the defending NBA champions extend their advantage at the top of the Western Conference standings heading into the final month of the regular season.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Thunder are now 53-15, three-and-half games clear of the second-placed San Antonio Spurs (49-18).<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Minnesota fell to 41-27 and remain in sixth place in the West.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Julius Randle led Minnesota's scoring with 32 points while Anthony Edwards added 19 and Ayo Dosunmu 18 from the bench.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Minnesota had won two of their three previous games against Oklahoma City this season and could have clinched regular-season bragging rights with victory.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But after edging into a 53-47 lead at halftime, Minnesota were unable to build from that platform in the second half, with the Thunder erasing their advantage with a 33-23 third quarter before outscoring the visitors by nine points in the fourth.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
- Raptors beat Pistons -<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Eastern Conference leaders Detroit were upset 119-108 at Toronto, where Brandon Ingram scored 34 points and Jakob Poeltl added 21 points and 18 rebounds for the Raptors (38-29).<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons (48-19) -- who had a three-game win streak snapped -- with 33 points and nine assists while Jalen Duren had 20 points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
At Cleveland, top NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg scored a game-high 27 points and added 10 assists to spark Dallas over the Cavaliers 130-120.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Donovan Mitchell had 26 points and 11 rebounds for Cleveland, which fell to 41-27, 2.5 games behind third-place New York (44-25) in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points to lead New York over visiting Golden State 110-107.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
At Indianapolis, the Milwaukee Bucks got 31 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists from Giannis Antetokounmpo in a 134-123 triumph over the NBA-worst Indiana Pacers (15-53), whose losing streak reached 13 games.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Bobby Portis added 29 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for the Bucks (28-39), who snapped a four-game losing skid.<\/p>\r\n\r\n