By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 25 points and eight assists, and Isaiah Joe hit six 3-pointers in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 123-87 victory over the injury-depleted Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, April 7.
Jared McCain scored 15 points and Chet Holmgren had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the NBA-leading Thunder, who swept the season series against the Lakers with their sixth straight victory and 18th in 19 games overall.
The Lakers had their lowest-scoring performance of the season while playing without Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes, who represent a combined 94.6 points per game. Doncic and Reaves are out for the rest of the regular season, while the 41-year-old James sat for one game to rest his arthritic left foot.
Rui Hachimura scored 15 points and Drew Timme had 11 for the Pacific Division champion Lakers, who have lost three straight since losing Doncic and Reaves to injury last week in Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles had won 13 of 14 and was closing in on the third seed before losing Doncic, who is in Europe seeking treatment on his Grade 2 left hamstring strain.
Rookie Adou Thiero scored a career-high 10 points for the Lakers, who still kept the game even until midway through the second quarter. But Oklahoma City finished the half on a 23-5 run, and Los Angeles scored just 22 points in its next 24 minutes of play.
Lakers coach JJ Redick and Jarred Vanderbilt exchanged heated words after Redick called a timeout and removed Vanderbilt from the game 16 seconds into the second quarter. Assistant coaches and players stayed between the two until the lengthy exchange cooled down, and Vanderbilt didn’t play again.
Stephen Curry scored 17 points with a pair of four-point plays in his second game back from a right knee injury, and the Golden State Warriors held off the Sacramento Kings, 110-105, to snap a four-game losing streak.
Curry, who missed 27 games before returning Sunday, tied the game at 104 on a 3-pointer with 2:38 remaining, then dished to Brandin Podziemski for a go-ahead 3 the next possession.
Kings 7-foot-1 rookie Maxime Raynaud had 17 points and eight rebounds playing on his 23rd birthday. Killian Hayes scored 18 points off the bench as Sacramento lost for the sixth time in eight games.
De’Anthony Melton had 21 points and Podziemski scored 20 for Golden State.
Curry came off the bench for the second straight game after missing more than two months with a right knee injury and shot 5 for 12 — including a four-point play at the 3:58 mark of the second quarter and another 2:39 before halftime that put the Warriors ahead 60-44.
He entered the game to cheers at the 6:24 mark of the opening quarter and immediately passed off for an assist to Charles Bassey — just as he did Sunday when Bassey signed — on offense before blocking a shot on the defensive end moments later.
There’s a chance Curry could be starting again Thursday against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
In Sunday’s 117-116 loss to Houston, Curry dazzled down the stretch to score 29 points on 11-for-21 shooting in 26 minutes in his first action since Jan. 30 against Detroit.
The Warriors were all but locked into the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference for the play-in tournament next week.
Warriors rookie Will Richard was a late scratch because of a back injury and Pat Spencer moved into the starting lineup — the 40th different one used by Golden State this season.
