EditorsNote: Adds "and" in 8th graf, minor edits
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points to help the host Oklahoma City Thunder to a 118-109 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
The Thunder have won two consecutive games for the first time in a month. The Hawks have alternated wins and losses over their last seven games.
Gilgeous-Alexander was 9 of 16 from the floor. He is averaging 31 points over his last four games. The Thunder had 31 assists, one off their season high.
Theo Maledon's 12 assists marked the most by an NBA rookie this season, and Maledon tied Russell Westbrook for Oklahoma City's rookie record for assists in a game.
Ty Jerome, playing his first game with the Thunder, tied a career high with seven assists. Four came in the first quarter.
The Hawks dominated the board early, outrebounding the Thunder 17-3 to start the game as Atlanta built a nine-point lead midway through the first quarter before Oklahoma City started to turn things around.
Atlanta had seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter, leading to 10 second-chance points. But the Hawks had just two second-chance points over the next two quarters.
The Thunder took the lead just before the halfway mark in the second quarter and held onto it the rest of the way.
A night after going scoreless, missing all eight shots, Oklahoma City's Darius Bazley had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
The Thunder shot 52.3 percent from the floor, their best home shooting performance of the season.
John Collins led Atlanta with 25 points, scoring 12 in the first quarter. Trae Young and Clint Capela added 17 each. Young, still searching for his first pro win in his home state, was just 7 of 21 from the field.
Jerome, who was traded from Phoenix in the offseason, missed the early part of the season recovering from an ankle injury before playing for the Thunder's G League affiliate in recent weeks.
In the first half, the Thunder wore their orange alternate jerseys while the Hawks wore red, because of a glitch in the NBA's system of inputting jersey selections.
Oklahoma City wore its white jerseys in the second half.
--Field Level Media
