Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Leads Thunder To Important Win Over The Mavericks As Western Conference Race Heats Up

The Thunder and the Nuggets lead the Western Conference of the NBA with identical 46-20 records with the Oklahoma team defeating the Mavericks 126-119 to pull one game clear of the third-placed Timberwolves.

The Conference is fiercely contested with the LA Clippers at 42-23 needing a strong surge and join the elite teams atop the conference table.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is enjoying a stellar season and a match-winning effort with 31 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

He was helped by Jalen Williams who powered his way to 27 points, 4 rebounds and five assists.

Chet Holmgren was solid on defence with eight rebounds to go with 11 points.

For the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving tried his best but lacked support from his teammates. He scored 36 points and had a remarkable 12 assists to go with 4 rebounds. Tim Hardaway Jr was the best of a withering looking Dallas team, 23 points, nine rebounds and 3 assists.

The Mavericks matched the stats across the board defensive and offensive rebounds won and taking the turnover battle 19 to 13.

But it seemed to go against Dallas as the Thunder held out for a massive win.

The Thunder next travel to the Grizzlies and will look for back-to-back wins while the Mavericks will look to stop the momentum of the Denver Nuggets, also on Sunday.

Content creator Petros Augousti has been a sportswriter for more than 20 years, working for some of the biggest media role-players globally including stints at Reuters, GQ magazine, Sports Illustrated and Multi-choice (SuperSport). He was a communications director for a professional soccer team for eight years, at one of the biggest clubs in Africa. He has been head of content for an award-winning multi-national free-to-play sports platform, headquartered out of Dubai, and focussing on Premier League soccer.