NBA: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Thunder to OT win over Bulls
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrates after scoring against the Washington Wizards in the second half at Capital One Arena on November 16, 2022 in Washington, DC. Rob Carr/Getty Images/AFP
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points, including five critical free throws in the closing seconds of overtime, to lead the host Oklahoma City Thunder to a 123-119 win over the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
DeMar DeRozan had carried the Bulls in overtime, scoring all nine of their points.
Article continues after this advertisementBut with 27.1 seconds left, he bit on a pump fake, leaving his feet and fouling Gilgeous-Alexander on a 3-point attempt.
Gilgeous-Alexander hit all three of the free throws, then was fouled again after the Thunder grabbed the rebound off DeRozan’s miss on the other end, allowing Gilgeous-Alexander to put the game away with two more free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Oklahoma City and a two-game winning streak for Chicago.
Article continues after this advertisementShai Gilgeous-Alexander went for his 3rd straight game with 30+ PTS and 7+ AST as he led the @okcthunder to the win in OT!
⚡ @shaiglalex: 30 PTS, 8 REB, 7 AST ⚡ pic.twitter.com/FwZ6NSTc02
— NBA (@NBA) November 26, 2022
Gilgeous-Alexander was 14 of 15 from the free-throw line as the Thunder tied a season-high for free throws attempted with 32.
Darius Bazley added a season-high 17 points off the bench for Oklahoma City as the Thunder’s reserves outscored Chicago’s 48-31.
DeRozan led the Bulls with 30 points, going 12 of 27 from the floor. Zach LaVine added 27 and Nikola Vucevic had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
The Thunder had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but Gilgeous-Alexander’s floater at the buzzer missed the mark.
It was Oklahoma City’s second consecutive overtime game and its fourth of the season.
For the Bulls, it was the first overtime game of the season.
The Thunder led by eight with less than six minutes to go, but LaVine and DeRozan helped Chicago force overtime.
The Bulls ripped off a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the second half with just less than four minutes remaining.
LaVine scored 12 of his points in the fourth.
Oklahoma City outscored Chicago 68-46 in the paint.
The Bulls scored the game’s first nine points and made their first eight shots.
Chicago didn’t miss until more than four minutes into the game.
Oklahoma City missed its first four shots.
The Bulls led by as many as 12 in the first quarter before the Thunder finished with a 25-11 run over the final eight minutes to take their first lead.
