The China Mail - Thunder roll past Suns, Pistons bounce back to level series with Magic

Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers as the defending champion Thunder took a commanding lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series with another comprehensive victory.

"Shai made the right play all night," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "His floor game was outstanding. He seemed to spray it all over the place, had a great tempo and got us really good shots."

Chet Holmgren scored 11 of his 19 points in the third quarter, when he also produced three of his four blocked shots.

Jalen Williams also scored 19, but the forward -- limited to just 33 games in the regular season -- exited in the third quarter, the team saying he apparently aggravated a hamstring injury.

The Thunder, trying to become the first repeat NBA champions since Golden State in 2017 and 2018, didn't miss a beat.

They pushed their lead to as many as 26 points early in the fourth quarter and repelled a Suns surge that saw Phoenix cut the deficit to 10 with less than four minutes remaining.

"All we can do is play next man up, and we built that muscle throughout the season pretty well," Gilgeous-Alexander said of the latest injury to Williams. "I'm super confident in this team to be able to go and get the job done no matter who's out there."

Gilgeous-Alexander, a finalist for MVP again this season and the newly named Clutch Player of the Year for his performances late in close games, had an injury scare himself in the first quarter.

He came up wincing and holding his left hand after a hard fall under the basket but said after the game there was no lasting damage.

"I'm great," he said. "Ready to go."

Dillon Brooks scored 30 points and Devin Booker added 22 for the Suns, who will try to turn things around when they host games three and four.

In Detroit, the Pistons used dominant defense and a third-quarter scoring spree to beat the Orlando Magic 98-83.

Cade Cunningham scored 27 points and handed out 11 assists and Tobias Harris added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Eastern Conference top seeds Detroit, who were stunned in game one of the best-of-seven series.

- Energy and effort -

Clearly stung by that upset on their home floor, the Pistons set an early defensive tone with seven of their 11 blocks in the first quarter, but it was tied 46-46 at halftime.

The Pistons opened the third quarter on an 11-0 scoring run to finally gain some separation and by the time they polished off a 38-16 third period they were in total control.

"We knew that first half wasn't to our standards of playing and we had to really figure out defensively how we were going to impact the game," Harris said.

"I thought we came out with just the type of energy and the type of effort that we needed on the defensive end. And I thought offensively we were able to find the gaps in the defense that we needed to make the right plays."

The Pistons, who had six players score in double figures, snapped an 11-game home losing streak in the playoffs that dated back to May 2008.

Jalen Suggs scored 19 points and Paolo Banchero added 18 for Orlando, but the Magic were held to their lowest points total all season.

P.Deng--ThChM