OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander broke Wilt Chamberlain's record for consecutive games with 20 points or more, scoring 35 points in the Oklahoma City Thunder's 104-102 win over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren was fouled on a rebound with 0.9 seconds remaining and made two free throws to break a 102-all tie. Boston’s Payton Pritchard missed a long 3-pointer as time expired.
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, left, looks to shoot over Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown takes the ball to the basket against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace, lower right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks to celebrate with a teammate during a timeout shortly after he broke Wilt Chamberlain's 20-point streak record during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, left, looks to shoot against Boston Celtics guard Baylor Scheierman (55) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots a 2-point basket to break Wilt Chamberlain's 20-point streak record during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 20 in 127 consecutive games, topping Chamberlain's mark that had stood since 1963. He hit a midrange jumper with 7:04 left in the third quarter that gave him 21 points and tied the game at 69-all. He finished with nine assists and six rebounds and made 13 of 18 field goals.
The Thunder won their seventh straight game — all since Gilgeous-Alexander returned from an abdominal strain that kept him out of the All-Star Game.
Jaylen Brown scored 34 points for the Celtics. Boston’s Jayson Tatum sat out as he works his way back from surgery to repair his right Achilles tendon. He’s played in three games since his return, including Tuesday’s loss at San Antonio.
The matchup of the defending champion Thunder, who have the league's best record, and the 2024 champion Celtics, who are second in the Eastern Conference, was tight throughout.
Gilgeous-Alexander hit a pullup jumper with just over a minute remaining to break a 98-all tie.
Brown made two free throws to tie the it with 50.8 seconds left.
Gilgeous-Alexander again went to his free-throw line jumper and connected with 29.6 seconds remaining to put Oklahoma City ahead 102-100.
Brown scored on a turnaround with 23 seconds left to set up the final sequence. Gilgeous-Alexander passed to an open Alex Caruso, who missed a 3-pointer, but Holmgren grabbed the rebound and was fouled.
Nuggets: Host Washington on Saturday.
Thunder: Host Minnesota on Sunday.
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, left, looks to shoot over Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown takes the ball to the basket against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace, lower right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks to celebrate with a teammate during a timeout shortly after he broke Wilt Chamberlain's 20-point streak record during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, left, looks to shoot against Boston Celtics guard Baylor Scheierman (55) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots a 2-point basket to break Wilt Chamberlain's 20-point streak record during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S stock market motored to more records Thursday as profits keep piling up for Alphabet, Caterpillar and other big businesses. The gains came after the latest whipsaw moves for oil prices, which surged toward their highest levels since the war with Iran began only to quickly regress.
The S&P 500 rallied 1% and topped its prior all-time high to close out its best month in more than five years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 790 points, or 1.6%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9% to its own record.
Alphabet led the way and rallied 10% after the owner of Google and YouTube reported profit for the latest quarter that almost doubled analysts’ expectations. Investments in artificial intelligence “are lighting up every part of the business,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.
It’s the latest company to deliver fatter profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected, even with very high oil prices and uncertainty about the economy.
Wall Street’s strength followed manic swings in the oil market, where prices surged overnight on worries that the Iran war will affect the flow of crude for a long time. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, keeping them pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide, while a U.S. Navy blockade is preventing Iran from selling its own oil.
Traders are buying and selling contracts for different kinds of oil, going out for many months. In the most actively traded part of the market for Brent crude, for delivery in July, the price got as high as $114.70 per barrel overnight. It then fell back toward $107 before settling at $110.40, nearly unchanged from the day before.
So far during the war, the peak price for the most actively traded Brent contract is $119.50, which was set last month.
In a less actively traded corner of the Brent market, the price for a barrel to be delivered in June briefly went above $126 overnight before pulling back toward $114.
Brent’s price is still much more expensive than its roughly $70 level from before the war. But the morning’s easing in prices and the continuing flood of better-than-expected profit reports from U.S. companies helped keep Wall Street at its records.
Caterpillar soared 9.9%, Eli Lilly jumped 9.8% and O’Reilly Automotive leaped 8.4% after all delivered profits for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. That’s big because stock prices tend to follow the track of corporate profits over the long term.
Still, a better-than-expected result isn’t always enough to boost a stock’s price if it’s already shot much higher.
Meta Platforms tumbled 8.7% even though the company behind Facebook and Instagram made more profit last quarter than expected. Investors focused more on its increased forecast for how much it will spend on data centers and other investments as it builds out its AI capabilities.
Doubts are still high among some investors about whether all the AI spending by Meta and other companies will produce enough profit and productivity to make it worth it.
Microsoft fell 3.9% after likewise raising its forecast for investments and other capital spending. But analysts also said accelerating trends at its Azure business were encouraging.
Amazon rose 0.8% after swinging between gains and losses through the day. It blew past analysts’ expectations for earnings in the latest quarter.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 73.06 points to 7,209.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 790.33 to 49,652.14, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 219.07 to 24,892.31.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave up their big overnight gains. Reports also suggested the U.S. economy’s growth accelerated by less in the first three months of the year than economists expected, while a measure of inflation worsened in March by about as much as expected.
A separate report said that fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in an indication of fewer layoffs even though companies are announcing large cuts to workforces.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.38% from 4.42% late Wednesday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a weaker finish in Asia.
London’s FTSE 100 jumped 1.6% after the Bank of England kept its main interest rate on hold. That followed similar decisions by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the Bank of Japan on Tuesday to keep their rates unchanged.
Germany’s DAX returned 1.4%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.5% after the European Central Bank also held its own interest rates steady.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3%, while stocks added 0.1% in Shanghai after a report said China’s factory activity slowed slightly in April but remained in expansion territory for the second month.
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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
Specialist Anthony Matesic works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
FIL:E - The New York Stock Exchange is shown in New York's Financial District on Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
Joseph Lawler, right, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The Feyzin Total oil refinery is seen outside Lyon, France, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
FILE - A gas price is displayed as a customer holds a fuel pump nozzle before filling up her vehicle's gas tank at a gas station, in Lincolnshire, Ill., Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)
