NBA and FIBA explore new European professional basketball league

LOS ANGELES: NBA scoring leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander netted a game-high 37 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder over Memphis 125-104 on Thursday for a team-record 61st season victory.

The host Thunder also had 20 points from Jalen Williams plus 18 points and 11 rebounds from Isaiah Hartenstein in stretching their win streak to eight games and breaking the team’s single-season win mark.

“It feels good,” said Canadian guard Luguentz Dort. “It just shows how much we’re getting better throughout all the years — and we’ve got to run through the finish line.”

The Thunder haven’t gotten past the second round of the playoffs since 2016 but they pulled away in the last seven points to turn a tied game into a lopsided triumph.

“We started getting our groove in the fourth quarter and started moving the ball, getting some steals and going up and down,” Dort said.

“Just have to go out there and compete and give everything to make it tough for them.”

Oklahoma City improved to a league-best 61-12 and have already clinched the Western Conference title while Eastern Conference leader Cleveland improved to 59-14 with a 124-116 home victory over San Antonio.

Donovan Mitchell had 25 points and 14 assists while Jarrett Allen had 29 points and 15 rebounds to spark the Cavaliers.

Australia’s Josh Giddey swished in a half-court shot at the final buzzer to give the Chicago Bulls a stunning 119-117 home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

On a night when Giddey had a triple-double with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, the 22-year-old guard from Melbourne saved the best for last.

Giddey inbounded the ball to a teammate from under Chicago’s basket, took a return pass and from the far edge of the mid-court circle launched a miracle shot that went in and set off an incredible celebration where the Aussie was mobbed by teammates and all were dancing along the court.

“That’s a Bulls win,” Giddey said as he walked off the court to applause from the crowd.

Austin Reaves had put the Lakers ahead 117-116 with 3.1 seconds remaining only for Giddey to steal the show.

Coby White led Chicago with 26 points. Reaves had 30 to lead the Lakers while Luca Doncic had 25 points and 10 rebounds and LeBron James added 17 points and 12 assists.

Jaden Hardy came off the Dallas bench to score 22 points in the Mavericks’ 101-92 triumph at Orlando, spoiling a 35-point performance by the Magic’s Paolo Banchero.

Tyler Herro scored 36 points to lead Miami’s 122-112 home victory over Atlanta while Tyrese Haliburton scored 29 points to lead nine Indiana double-digit scorers in a 162-109 rout at Washington.

Turkiye’s Alperen Sengun scored 33 points and added 10 rebounds as the Houston Rockets had seven scorers in double figures in a 121-110 triumph at Utah.

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida: Novak Djokovic is finding a higher gear in South Florida after a sluggish start to 2025.

Djokovic, gunning for his seventh Miami Open title, dispatched American Sebastian Korda 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) Thursday in one hour, 24 minutes in a quarterfinal match that was postponed from Wednesday night because the women’s quarterfinal between Jessica Pegula and Emma Raducanu ran past 11 p.m. and would have begun at about midnight — against new ATP rules.

Djokovic advanced to Friday’s semifinals and will face Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov. Djokovic is 12-1 against the 33-year-old Dimitrov, who reached the tournament finals in 2024.

Djokovic, who won all six of his titles at the tournament’s previous venue at Key Biscayne, is going for his 100th professional title.

“I’m getting great support,” Djokovic said. “I feel I have a really good chance to go all the way here. ...I’m playing the best I have in some time.”

With the Hard Rock Stadium fans cheering the 37-year-old and chanting his name despite him facing an American opponent, Djokovic rallied in the second set from 4-1 and 5-2 down to win in a tiebreaker.

He served an ace on match point and finished with an 83 first-service percentage against the 24th-seeded Korda. The 37-year-old Serbian let out a yell after the victory and strummed his racket like a violin.

“One word — serve,″ Djokovic said when asked the key to his second-set surge. “I was serving very well — best serving performance in a long time.”

The men’s leader in Grand Slam titles at 24 has been out of form this year, starting with an injury retirement at the Australian Open in January. Earlier this month, Djokovic lost his first match at Indian Wells to Botic van de Zandschulp.

Korda, son of Grand slam champion Petr Korda who grew up at the Bradenton, Florida, tennis academies, had beaten a top-10 opponent in Stefanos Tsitsipas earlier in the tournament and played at a flawless level to build a 4-1 second-set lead before Djokovic found his game.

In the first women’s semifinal, No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka routed sixth-seeded Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2 in 71 minutes to advance to her first Miami Open final.

Paulini, the 2024 French Open finalist, spent some of the afternoon smirking at Sabalenka’s deft shot-making, saying at one juncture “What a day.’’

Sabalenka, of Belarus, was efficient in converting four of her five break points and pounded 31 winners to just 12 unforced errors.

When Paolini tried to mount a comeback in the second set, closing to 4-2 and up a double-break point at 15-40, Sabalenka hit three open-court winners and an ace to close the game.

Paolini, in her best showing at the Miami Open, couldn’t match Sabalenka’s brilliance. The Belarusian hasn’t dropped a set so far.

“I think I was so focused and everything went smoothly,’’ Sabalenka said.

Sabalenka will face the winner of Thursday night’s semifinal between Jessica Pegula and lexandra Eala of the Philippines.

Asked if she would watch the match or go out in Miami, where she now lives, Sabalenka said, “I usually go for dinner, but other than that, it’s always tennis on my TV, actually. I’m actually enjoying, like, watching tennis lately. That’s crazy. I’m getting old.’’

In the day’s first men’s quarterfinal, unseeded teenager Jakub Mensik beat 17th-seeded Arthur Fils 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. The 19-year-old Mensik advanced to his first semifinal at an ATP 1000-point level event.

Mensik, of the Czech Republic, squeaked out the tiebreaker and then stormed to a 4-0 lead in the second set to knock out the 20-year-old Frenchman. The 54th-ranked Mensik hit 13 aces and a crosscourt forehand winner that ended the match in 75 minutes.

Mensik will face the winner of Thursday night’s Taylor Fritz-Matteo Berrettini quarterfinal.