Thunder’s Jalen Williams drops 41 points on Spurs

Jalen Williams poured in a career-high 41 points to go with seven assists and six rebounds as the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the second half in beating the San Antonio Spurs 146-132 on Sunday.

The Thunder trailed by as many as nine points late in the second quarter and by five at halftime before outscoring San Antonio 36-23 in the third period.

Oklahoma City padded its cushion to 22 points while cruising to its third straight win and fifth in its past six games.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 points and eight assists for Oklahoma City. Cason Wallace had 19 points, Aaron Wiggins 17 and Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein 10 each. Hartenstein also took a game-high 11 rebounds.

Stephon Castle led the Spurs with 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting off the bench. De’Aaron Fox added 20 points followed by Jeremy Sochan (17), Devin Vassell (15) and Harrison Barnes (14).

San Antonio, which was playing the second contest of a road-home back to back, has lost five of its past six games.

The Thunder led by as many as eight points in the opening quarter before San Antonio rallied to within a point on Castle’s 3-pointer with 12.9 seconds remaining. Williams finished the period with a dunk to put Oklahoma City ahead 41-38.

The second period featured six ties and five lead changes. Vassell’s trey put the Spurs ahead 75-66 with 44.6 seconds left.

Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander poured in 22 points each to lead all scorers in the half.

Castle had 18 at the break for the Spurs while Barnes had 11 and Sochan scored 10. San Antonio shot 61.7 percent from the floor and made 16 of its 26 treys before halftime.

A melee erupted with three minutes left in the third quarter and the Thunder ahead 100-96. The Spurs’ Julian Champagnie and the Thunder’s Kenrich Williams squared off after a shoving match near midcourt. Both players were ejected. The Thunder’s Luguentz Dort was also kicked out for participating.

De’Andre Hunter, Cavaliers hold off Trail Blazers in OT

De’Andre Hunter made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30.8 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting the Cleveland Cavaliers to a stunning 133-129 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.

Hunter finished with 32 points and came up in the clutch after Anfernee Simons put Portland ahead 129-128 with a triple of his own with 44 seconds left.

Shaedon Sharpe missed a floater and Deni Avdija had a 3-point attempt clang off the back rim following Hunter’s late make.

Hunter then sealed the win with two free throws with four seconds left.

Ty Jerome provided 25 points off the bench for the Cavaliers, who also got 20 from Evan Mobley and 14 from Max Strus.

Jarrett Allen (12 points, 10 rebounds) recorded a double-double as Cleveland won its 10th straight game.

Avdija matched his season high of 30 points, tied his career high of 10 assists and also had 12 boards for his first career triple-double but couldn’t carry the Blazers to victory. Simons supplied 27 points, Toumani Camara collected 19 and Sharpe finished with 18 as Portland’s four-game winning streak came to an end.

Cleveland scored the first five points of overtime to build a 124-119 lead before the Trail Blazers came back to tie the game at 126.

Simons forced the extra session by making two free throws with 1.1 seconds left in regulation to draw Portland even at 119. Darius Garland had failed to give the Cavaliers a three-point advantage just seconds earlier by splitting a pair of foul shots.

It was tied at 115 when Strus brought the home crowd to its feet with a 3-pointer with 15.6 seconds to go.

Simons answered with two free throws to make it a one-point game at 118-117 before later taking advantage of the Garland miss at the charity stripe.

The Cavaliers held out star Donovan Mitchell for rest.

Cleveland put together a stunning comeback for the second straight game after overcoming a 22-point deficit to down the Boston Celtics on Friday.

On Sunday, the Cavaliers found themselves in an 18-point hole when Simons sank a 3-pointer with 1:53 left in the third quarter to give Portland an 89-71 cushion.

Aaron Nesmith’s career-best 27 leads Pacers past Bulls

Aaron Nesmith scored a career-high 27 points and the Indiana Pacers notched their fifth win in the last seven games with a 127-112 defeat of the Chicago Bulls on Sunday in Indianapolis.

Nesmith, who came into Sunday’s contest averaging 1.2 made 3-pointers per game, canned 6 of 11 from deep to lead the Pacers on a 19-of-44 shooting effort (43.2 percent) from beyond the arc as a team. With the Indiana defense holding Chicago to 10-of-33 3-point shooting, the long ball helped make the difference in the win.

Nesmith’s 11 attempts matched his career-high, and his six made were one shy of matching his personal best. He went 4 of 7 from 3-point range in the second half to help the Pacers control the latter 24 minutes, 61-45.

Indiana also got three 3-pointers on six attempts from Ben Sheppard, who finished with nine points off the bench.

The Pacers’ reserves played a critical role in a pivotal fourth-quarter run. T.J. McConnell contributed to eight Indiana points scored during a 9-2 spurt near the start of the period, beginning with a converted and-one-opportunity.