basketball

Thunder beat short-handed 76ers for 12th straight win

By The Associated PressYahoo Sports

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 points, Jalen Williams added 18 in his return to the lineup and the Oklahoma City Thunder won their 12th game in a row Monday night with a 123-103 victory over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers. Jared McCain had 13 points for the Thunder in his first game in Philadelphia since last month’s trade. The defending NBA champions improved to 57-15, the best record in the league.

VJ Edgecombe scored 35 points for the 76ers, who played without Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George. Philadelphia began the day as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament but was just a half-game back of fifth-place Toronto.

Williams was back in the lineup after missing 16 games with a right hamstring strain. PACERS 128, MAGIC 126 ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Pascal Siakam scored 37 points and blocked Paolo Banchero’s attempted layup in the final seconds to help Indiana end their franchise-record 16-game losing streak with a win over Orlando.

Banchero scored 39 points for the Magic, who have lost five straight. Banchero drove to the basket with a chance to tie the game after Orlando won a jump ball with 6. 4 seconds left.

But 7-foot-1 Jay Huff and the 6-9 Siakam were under the basket, and Banchero could not get the shot over them. Jarace Walker had 20 points for the Pacers, and Aaron Nemith added 19. Andrew Nembhard, who hit a 3-pointer with 1:33 remaining for Indiana’s final points, finished with 13 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds.

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