Defending champion Oklahoma City secured their place in the NBA Western Conference semifinals on Monday with a fourth consecutive victory against Phoenix, while Denver avoided elimination by beating Minnesota.

The Thunder on a roll

With 31 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, in contention to retain his MVP title this season, the Oklahoma City Thunder swept their first-round NBA playoff series in the Western Conference 4-0 with a 131-122 victory on the Phoenix Suns' home court.

"We were ready," Gilgeous-Alexander summarized. "We are a group of great young people who have fun together. We play for each other, none of us are selfish, we all want each other to succeed and when you put all that together, you get success."

Chet Holmgren joined the feast with 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, as did Ajay Mitchell (22 pts) and Isaiah Hartenstein (18 pts, 12 rbs).

On the other side, Devin Booker finished as the Suns' top scorer with 24 points.

The Thunder will face either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Houston Rockets in the conference semi-finals, with the Lakers currently leading the series 3-1.

The Nuggets on borrowed time

The Denver Nuggets, already under threat of elimination, gave themselves a reprieve by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves (125-113) to come back to 3-2 in their series, but game 6 will be played in Minneapolis on Thursday.

Serbian Nikola Jokic sparked the Nuggets' comeback with a triple-double (27 points, 16 assists, 12 rebounds). Jamal Murray added 24 points, Spencer Jones 20, and Cameron Johnson 18.

"We did a good job putting in the energy for the full 48 minutes," Murray said. "We'll need to be calm and relaxed for the game at their place."

On the other side, the Wolves were without their two starting guards: Anthony Edwards, suffering from a bone contusion and hyperextension of his left knee since game 4, will be out for several more days and Donte DiVincenzo will not play again this season due to a ruptured Achilles tendon.

The Pistons on the brink of elimination

The Detroit Pistons, the best team in the Eastern Conference at the end of the regular season, are now only one loss away from elimination in the first round of the playoffs after their latest defeat (94-88) against the Orlando Magic, who now lead 3-1 in the series.

Led by Desmond Bane (22 points, 5 of 10 from three-point range), the Magic had to leave the game early with Franz Wagner, who left the court with a right calf injury after scoring 19 points. Paolo Banchero added 18 points and 8 rebounds.

Cade Cunningham's 25 points added to Tobias Harris's 20 were not enough to prevent Detroit from suffering another defeat.

Orlando, who finished 8th in the Eastern Conference regular season with a 54-37 record, can eliminate Detroit (60-22 in the regular season) as early as Wednesday. The Pistons will then have home-court advantage, but they must now win three straight games, including Game 6 of the series in Florida.

The Magic haven't played in the conference semifinals since 2010. The Pistons, meanwhile, haven't reached that stage since 2008.