Durant posts triple double in 119-74 blow out win vs Hornets

Probably the best all around team win I have seen in a while. Ronnie Brewer and Derek Fisher made their debuts in OKC and it was a pretty great start. The first quarter kicked off very fast with Russell Westbrook scroing 18 points in the quarter almost breaking Durant's franchise record for most points in a quarter which is 22 pts. The Thunder played great defense with Perkins and Ibaka recording 11 boards and 7 blocks. Ibaka played the way the Thunder imagined him every game when they chose to re sign him over Harden. He posted 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks, He played great in the low post and with offensive rebounds finishing the plays. Durant is playing at a MVP level alright I am sorry Lebron but Durant deserves this thing. Another triple double in 4 games with 18 points. 11 rebounds, and 10 assists is just absolutely stellar. Since Harden left the Thunder needed that 2nd ball handler that controls the temp when Westbrook gets out of hand and that has been Durant this year and he is doing an amazing job at it. He is averaging a career high 4.6 assists per game and is making everyone else around him better offensively and defensively notably the most benefited is probably SG Thabo Sefelosha who has been amazing behind the 3 point line and is averaging a career high in points. Newly traded Brewer played only in garbage time with 5 points and Fisher had 0 but played good defense and just has to get back into the basketball speed he has been out for most of this season. The Hornets almost had no chance from the get go and the Thunder will now improve to 42-15 awaiting the red hot Denver Nuggets Friday night.

Thunder take care of offensive less Bulls 102-72

Now that's they way to play defense. The Thunder are coming off 4 disappointing defensive performances but man did they bounce back against the Bulls. From start to finish you could tell how much the Bulls are missing Derek Rose right now as they could not move the ball at all or create open looks. The Thunder on the other hand looked stellar again, Russell Westbrook is having the best month of his career again scoring a team high 23 points but it wasn't the offense that stood out this time, it was the defense. Nick Collison, Ibaka, and Perkins played amazing inside the paint not allowing Boozer or Noah to get any momentum at all which has been a problem of late for the Thunder when coming to paint defense. This is when you know how much different the PG position is without Rose, Nate Robinson started for the Bulls and yes had a solid night with 13 points but just got utterly dominated by Westbrook in the post and just couldn't keep up with Westbrook. Durant had another great night posting a double double with 19 points and 16 rebounds. This is why Kevin Durant needs to win MVP, its not just that he is scoring in doubles every night but every other stat is going up. He was again a rebound monster and had a team high in assists with 6 and is not only improving himself but making his teammates around him better. The Bulls got some momentum back at the end of the 2nd quarter only to let it slip away when Thabo Sefelosha went to the hoop for the tip in and one. The second half consisted of the Bulls chucking up deep shots because quite frankly there was no where to go. The Thunder perimeter defenders did a great job of jamming the Bulls up at the 3 point line forcing bad shots which was the biggest reason they won this game. If the Thunder want to make another run at the NBA title, they will need to have more wins like this that are all around great with both offensive and defensive play that I have not seen as good as it was in this one. Scott Brooks kept praising defense on the sidelines saying just to keep pressuring them and don't let up which got through to the players holding the Bulls to a mere 29% shooting . The Thunder now stand at 41-15 and 3 games back behind the Spurs for first in the West. They next take on the New Orleans Hornets or shall I say soon to be Pelicans.....which by the way is a just awful name for a b-ball squad but anyway yes they take on the Hornets in OKC Wednesday night where newly traded SG Ronnie Brewer will make his debut. The Thunder also today signed veteran and  previous PG of the Thunder Derek Fisher for mainly another veteran presence and insurance purposes if Reggie Jackson every suffers a injury or plays poorly.

Thunder defeat T-Wolves 127-111

Wow what a game. The Thunder offense was just dominant. Westbrook's season high 37 points and Durant's 27 helped the Thunder score 100 points before the third quarter ended. The defense for OKC was off to a slow start and allowed Minnesota to score way too easily for how well the Thunder have played on defense this year. Although it struggled the T-wolves had the same problem on their defensive side just getting dominated in the rebound battles and just had no answer to the Thunder making every jump shot they took. Another game that Kendrick Perkins has impressed me with as he had 10 points and 7 rebounds, his offensive ability has really improved this year with both posting up and jump shots. If he can continue this it will really benefit the Thunder's chances to get back to the Finals. Kevin Martin played great off the bench for 19 points but that's just what he has been doing all season. You can really tell since James Harden left that Kevin Durant has taken over that second ball handler spot. He has a career high in assists per game, rebounds per game, and another leading scoring season. If mister James was not playing so well down in Miami we would be talking Durant for sure winning the MVP but he might be the runner up this year to "King James". The Thunder take on the Bulls Sunday at 8:30 ET and will be a nice test against a very tough defensive minded team. If Russell Westbrook can control Bulls PG Nate Robinson from going all out like he does in a lot of games this year, the Thunder will shut down the Bulls who struggle to get open looks by themselves.

Thunder Trade Deadline Report

The Thunder made a couple moves on Thursday before the NBA trade deadline and one could help put the Thunder over the top to get back to the NBA finals. Last year the Thunder picked up Derek Fisher from the Houston Rockets which brought a veteran leader to a young team that needed it to get to the Finals. This year the Thunder and Knicks made a trade that would send Knicks SG Ronnie Brewer to the Thunder for a second round pick. Although Brewer is not having the best year in points averaging 3.6 PPG he still has been when out on the court playing solid defense and provides a veteran presence that I think the Thunder still need. Brewer can play SF as well so he could provide a good relief for Kevin Durant or can be played and Durant can be moved to the PF position. The Thunder also dealt PG Eric Maynor to the Trail Blazers, Maynor who lost his backup PG job to Reggie Jackson who was just out playing him has been looked by the Thunder to be traded to clear some cap space and really, there was just no need for 3 PGs when Westbrook can play the entire game if he needed to anyway. This was a very smart move so now the Thunder can look to Jackson as a needed boost off the bench to score because other than Kevin Martin, the Thunder don't have many scoring backups which is another reason probably they went for Ronnie Brewer. The Thunder received a 2.2 million dollar trade exception in exchange for Maynor's services. The Thunder take on the Timberwolves Friday night and it will be interesting to see if Brewer plays and what his roll will be with this team.

Thunder lose in crazy outing against Rockets 122-119

What a game it was but bitter sweet for SG of the Rockets and formally of the Thunder James Harden who had a career high 46 points against the Thunder. The Thunder led the game by 11 in the 4th quarter and like many times this year got relaxed far too early. Kevin Durant posted his 2nd ever triple-double as well as Thabo Sefelosha notching his career high 25 points but it was not enough to stop the red hot Rockets. Jeremy Lin was the unsung hero of this game hitting 2 huge clutch 3 pointers to put the Rockets up by 5. Jeremy Lin finished with 29 points and 8 assists. Everything seemed to be going well for the Thunder up until about 4 minutes left and it all came crumbling down. Reggie Jackson and Westbrook had no answer to stopping Harden and Lin, far too many turnovers by the Thunder over 10 in the third and fourth quarter allowed the Rockets fast break offense to take advantage. Harden hit the nastiest fade away over Reggie Jackson to take the lead. The Thunder could not make anything other than free throws, too many forced passes and forced up shots led to the 4th quarter demise. This could not be the last time the two teams meet as the Thunder stand at 2nd in the west and the Rockets are battling with 6th and 7th seed in the west. If the Thunder want to be able to secure big leads against good teams which in fact the Rockets are a dangerous team in the west, they will need to keep their foot on the gas and continue to beat down the opposition with the lead.

Thunder Mid Season Report

The Thunder are half way through the year and stand at a 2nd in the league best record 39-14. Kevin Durant is playing at a MVP level and Russell Westbrook is keeping his turnovers down and getting his assists in the top 5 leaderboard. Kevin Martin the replacement for James Harden at the 6th man has been averaging over 11 points a game off the bench which is much needed for the Thunder secondary scroing when they lost Harden who was their whole offense when Durant and Westbrook were not out there. Serge Ibaka is playing all-star defense as well as his jump shooting which has been terrific averaging 13 points per game. The Thunder look to have made the right decison choosing to extend Ibaka over Harden. Perkins has again played his tough, solid defense, even his offense has been at a career high with the Thunder. The problem this year has been exactly what ended their season last year........The reigning NBA champion Miami Heat. The Thunder were swept in the regular season series this year and have now dropped 6 straight to the Heat. Kevin Durant continues to struggle when defending Lebron James who is probably going to win yet another MVP award at the end of the season. The Thunder just get shut down by the Heat completely forced to shut perimeter jump shots all game as the Heat defense has not allowed the Thunder to make the extra passes and force into the paint. If the Thunder want to claim their first NBA title in OKC then they are going to have to figure out a way to shut down Lebron and score in differet ways against the Heat. Not totally saying the Thunder are the clear cut favorite to make the NBA Finals in the West as the Spurs and Clippers are playing championship caliber basketball as well but the Thunder are the most explosive, young, star powered team in the West. The Thunder will need to just play consistent winning basketball in the seond half to secure the divison and hopefully secure home field throughout the playoffs for a better chance to beat the Heat.

Thunder take care of Business against Suns 97-69

Well that was no surprise, the Thunder took care of the Phoenix Suns Sunday night 97-63 and really this one was never really close. The Thunder got off to a good start holding the lead throughout the whole entire game with a career high game in points for Thabo Sefelosha who had 20 points. Kevin Martin did not play due to injury so Sefelosha stepped it up with his offensive and oblviously his great defensive play. Westbrook had a great night with 24 points and 6 assists and did a terrific job at shutting down Goran Dragic who only had 6 points so Westbrook did his job including a 1st half buzzer beater 3. He did not get out of control, kept his turnovers down and made good decisions which is key for the Thunders deep playoff run. Kevin Durant had a solid game with 18 points but did not play most of the 4th quarter when the Thunder had a 30 point lead. Liggins did a good job coming in for Sefelosha notching 7 points off the bench. The Thunder and Suns just are not on the same level so this game was of no surprise to most who watched it. Morain Gortat was shut down again by Ibaka and Perkins finishing with only 6 points. None of the Suns scorers could get any rhythm going at all as the Thunder just weren't letting up all game. The Thunder look ahead to Tuesday when they take on the Utah Jazz in Utah. The Jazz currently stand at 7th place and would face the Thunder in the playoffs if they started today. Key for the Thunder is to shut down Alshon Jeffery and make the Jazz make shots from the perimeter.

 

Thunder defeat Suns Friday Night

The Thunder defeated the Phoenix Suns  friday night 127-96 thanks to a rare offensive performance by center Kendrick Perkins who racked up 17 points and 9 rebounds. The Suns kept it close early evening up the score at 33 but when the second half rolled around, the Thunder ran away with it. 5 Thunder players finished with double digit points including a season high for Thabo Sefelosha who had 18 points. Durant put up his usual 21 points and Westbrook had 17 points and 6 assists. The Thunder's bench was terrific with Kevin Martin having 16 points and also a great showing from the young guns such as Perry Jones who in the end of the game had 3 monster dunks. For the Suns they just could not generate enough offense to keep up with the Thunder and thats been the problem for most teams this year that face the Thunder. Center Marcin Gortat only had 2 points in one attempted shot the whole game so the Thunder big men in Serge Ibaka and Perkins did their job on the veteran big man. The Thunder will again face the Suns Sunday night at 8:00 ET in a home and home matchup that will wrap up the series between these two teams. For the Thunder don't let the Suns fans get into the game, keep the pace at your speed which these Suns won't be able to keep up with without a big time scorer on their team. Westbrook will need to shutdown Goran Dragic and not let him slip into the paint which he is known for doing a very good job at. If the Thunder can have another impressive offensive outing by either Ibaka and Perkins, they should get a easy win on Sunday.

Thunder defeats Golden State Warriors

The Thunder defeated the Golden State Warriors Wednsday night and what started off as a fast pace high scoring game...well ended like it. The Thunder kept the temp fast all game and scored most of their points in the paint. Kendrik Perkins looked like an elite center grabbing 11 rebounds and 6 points while Durant and Westbrook did their usual stellar play with Durant having 25 pts and Westbrook with 22. Durant and Westbrook are starting to get very gritty this year showing a lot of toughness with their physical play and also mouths. Kevin Durant who said "No more mister nice guy" has been nothing but the opposite of nice when it comes to plays with the refs. He has had a boat load of technicals this month and this week told reporters on his technicals that "I just need to shut up". Kevin Martin was stellar scoring 21 points off the bench draining 3 after 3 after 3. Reggie Jackson is the guy I want to focus on most in this game recap, he had 12 points and 6 points off the bench. If Jackson can keep up this great consistent play it could be the difference if the Thunder win the big one this year. The Thunder have not had a quality backup for Westbrook since Maynor tore his ACL last year 8 games into the year and just wasn't the same this year. The Warriors played pretty good against the Thunder for what they are as clearly the Thunder are on a completely different level then they are. Harrison Barnes led them with 19 points and has been one of the best young players in the NBA this year. The Thunder stand at 37-12 and are 1.5 games back from the Spurs for the first place in the west coming close to the all star break. The Thunder meet up with the Phoenix Suns friday night and the Thunder would like to keep their winning ways going headed into the all star break. By the way Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook need to entertain all us basketball fans and join the dunk contest so we get some decent talent in the competition this year.