The Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association NBA are on the verge of advancing to the semifinals of the Western Conference.
Oklahoma City easily beat the New Orleans Pelicans 106-85 in Game 3 of the 2023-2024 NBA Western Conference quarterfinals four wins out of seven held at the Smoothie King Center in Louisiana on the 28th.
Shai Gilzer Alexander scored 24 points and Jaylen Williams and Josh Giddy scored 21 points each to lead the team to a complete victory.
Oklahoma City, which has won three consecutive games in its entire series, will advance to the semifinals of the conference if it wins Game 4 at the same venue on the 30th.
Oklahoma City, the top seed in the Western Conference, dominated the game from time to time with a 3-point shooting accuracy rate of more than 47%.
Oklahoma City, which has continued to lead by more than 10 points, won the game without a major crisis, widening its score to 24 points at one point in the fourth quarter.
New Orleans, which was absent in Game 3 following Games 1 and 2 due to a muscle injury behind the thigh, failed to counterattack.
In the Eastern Conference quarterfinals playoff, Orlando Magic defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 112-89 in Game 4 at Amway Center, home to the Orlando Magic, to balance the series with two wins and two losses overall.
Orlando's Franz Wagner led the team to victory with 34 points and 13 rebounds.
Orlando also showed a suffocation defense that kept Cleveland scoreless for about seven minutes at the start of the third quarter.
Orlando, which scored 37 points in the third quarter and allowed only 10, held the lead until the end of the fourth quarter.
Game 5 will be played at Rockit Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland's home stadium.