San Antonio falls to 11-23 on the season with Tuesday’s loss.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 28 points, eight assists and six rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder closed a season-high, seven-game homestand by beating the San Antonio Spurs 130-114 on Tuesday night.
Mike Muscala, pressed into extended action due to an early injury to starting forward Aleksej Pokusevski, hit 3 of 5 3-point attempts and scored 19 points. Tre Mann had 17 and rookie Jalen Williams added 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Thunder never trailed after the 1:59 mark of the first quarter, but needed a 14-3 run to open the fourth quarter to secure the win. Oklahoma City hit 13 of 24 3-point attempts (54.2%).
Devin Vassell scored 20 points for the Spurs. Keldon Johnson started despite battling low back tightness and added 19.
Official Jenna Schroeder issued two quick technical fouls and ejected San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich with 11:13 left in the second quarter, after Popovich yelled “Do your job!” and other things at her. Assistant coach Brett Brown led the Spurs’ bench the rest of the game.
The technical fouls came in the middle of an 11-4 run by Oklahoma City that put the Thunder ahead 51-41 and they were up 70-60 at halftime. Oklahoma City was 9 of 14 on 3-point attempts in the half and Muscala came off the bench to score 14 points.
San Antonio pulled within 95-93 by the end of the third quarter, but Oklahoma City opened the fourth quarter with its big run.
The Spurs next return home to host the New York Knicks on Thursday.
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