Jalen Williams scored 23 points to lead the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder to a 118-112 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.
Williams added seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal. He was one of three Thunder players to score at least 20 points, as Chet Holmgren added 22 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 20.
Williams scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma City held off a late surge by the Grizzlies (23-45).
Desmond Bane played for the first time since January 12 and led Memphis with 22 points and seven assists. Bane was suffering from an ankle injury.
GG Jackson and Jaren Jackson Jr. each added 19 points for the Grizzlies, who also got 16 points from Santi Aldama.
Memphis cut its deficit to five, 112-107, with a minute remaining after the Thunder’s Luguentz Dort was assessed a technical foul for flopping.
Bane made the free throw, but when the Grizzlies gained possession, Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace took the ball from Jaren Jackson and gave it to Holmgren, who went right back to Wallace for a dunk and a lead of 114 -107 with 44.5 seconds left.
The Thunder hit all four of their free throw attempts the rest of the way to seal the victory.
Oklahoma City (47-20) has won five straight and five of its last six games to move into a tie with the Denver Nuggets for first place in the Western Conference.
Memphis has lost two straight games and four of its last five.
The Thunder led by 13 early in the fourth quarter before a quick 8-0 run brought the Grizzlies back into the game.
When Jake LaRavia converted a layup with 9:32 remaining, Memphis found itself trailing 93-91.
The Grizzlies continued to stay within striking distance until Oklahoma City began to pull away late.
The Thunder had taken control with a 35-point third quarter.
The game was tied just past the midpoint when the Thunder went on a 19-5 run, with seven points from Gilgeous-Alexander during that stretch.
Oklahoma City only led 56-54 at the break.
