Oklahoma City Thunder [12-5] vsWashington Wizards [14-2]
Great team effort puts Wizards closer to back-to-back championships
OKC - 21 18 25 37 101 WAS - 28 30 33 32 123
Player of the Game: Kevin Durant (27pts, 7reb, 4ast, 1stl) (12-16 FG, 1-2 3PT, 2-2 FT)
Top Scorers Kevin Durant - 27 Russell Westbrook - 26 Perry Jones - 24 DeMarcus Cousins - 17 John Wall - 17 Bradley Beal - 17 Andrew Wiggins - 11 Ian Miller - 10 Shannon Brown - 10
Rebounds Kevin Durant - 7 Samuel Salembert - 6 DeMarcus Cousins - 6 Nerlens Noel - 6 Perry Jones - 5
Assists John Wall - 7 Ian Miller - 6 Serge Ibaka - 5 Russell Westbrook - 5
Steals John Wall - 2 Robin Lopez - 2 Serge Ibaka - 2
Perry Jones had 18 points in the first half. For some reason he was getting lots of easy baskets. Also, Andrew Wiggins didn't score in the first half, which helped me.
Westbrook picked up his fifth foul halfway through the third quarter. He fouled out halfway through the fourth quarter. It probably didn't make much difference to the game though with the big lead I already had.
Oklahoma City Thunder [12-6] vsWashington Wizards [15-2]
Wizards sweep Thunder to win second championship in a row
OKC - 23 26 30 27 106 WAS - 31 24 34 27 116
Player of the Game: John Wall (26pts, 16ast, 3stl, 2blk) (10-12 FG, 1-1 3PT, 5-5 FT)
Top Scorers DeMarcus Cousins - 31 Kevin Durant - 31 Russell Westbrook - 31 John Wall - 26 Serge Ibaka - 19 Andrew Wiggins - 15 Nerlens Noel - 14 Bradley Beal - 12 Perry Jones - 12
Rebounds DeMarcus Cousins - 10 Kevin Durant - 7 Nerlens Noel - 6 Russell Westbrook - 5
Assists John Wall - 16 Russell Westbrook - 10 Andrew Wiggins - 7 Kevin Durant - 5
Steals John Wall - 3 Larry Sanders - 2 Serge Ibaka - 2 Andrew Wiggins - 2
Blocks John Wall - 2 Robin Lopez - 2 Nerlens Noel - 2
1. Washington Wizards [12-2] vs 1. Oklahoma City Thunder [12-3]
Results OKC @ WAS - 117-119 (OT) OKC @ WAS - 112-122 WAS @ OKC - 123-101 WAS @ OKC - 116-106
Washington won the series 4-0
Trophy Presentation
Finals MVP
Kevin Durant had been a man on a mission ever since he was traded to the Washington Wizards. He helped them to the best record in the NBA and earned himself his fourth scoring title and the coveted Most Valuable Player award. He was voted onto the All-NBA First team as well. This was the season when he finally stepped out of LeBron James' shadow and proved that he is a legitimate superstar. Not content with his achievements, Durant set out to almost single-handedly bring another championship to Washington.
Many experts are calling it the best individual performance in a post-season campaign in the history of the NBA.
Scoring summary
First Round vs Indiana - 39.6 ppg Conference Semis vs Chicago - 50.2 ppg (NBA record) Conference Finals vs Detroit - 35.2 ppg NBA Finals vs Oklahoma City - 39 ppg
2016 Playoffs - 41.4 ppg
20 point games - 2 (27, 29) 30 point games - 9 (31, 32, 33, 35, 35, 37, 37, 38, 39) 40 point games - 4 (43, 47, 47, 49) 50 point games - 2 (50, 51) 80 point games - 1 (86)
Durant rewrote many scoring records on his way to the title. In the conference semi finals against Chicago he bettered Jerry West's series scoring average of 46.3 in 1965, by averaging a staggering 50.2 per game against the Bulls. He beat Michael Jordan's 1986 scoring record of 63 points in a game by a massive 23 points. He actually beat several playoff scoring records in that series. But probably the two most important to him would be having the second highest points scored in NBA history behind only the great Wilt Chamberlain; and now holding the Wizards franchise record points scored in a game, beating the 62 that Andrew Wiggins' scored against Dallas last season.
By winning the regular season MVP award, Finals MVP award and a Championship in the same season, Durant joins LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Willis Reed as the only players to have achieved this. And of course his team mate John Wall pulled off the same feat last season.
With the core of Durant, Wall and Cousins all locked in for at least two more seasons it isn't hard to conceive of the Wizards aiming to replicate the Lakers and Bulls of recent times and go for a third straight championship. If Durant shows up like this again next season then no one would bet against them.
White House visit
The players and head coach of the NBA champion Washington Wizards visited the White House today to show off their trophy to President Obama. It's the second season in a row that the likes of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Avery Johnson have attended this traditional annual function. President Obama was said to have joked with Kevin Durant that "It's nice to see a group of people in this town can actually get things done".
He really is something special. He just makes scoring look so easy.
Cruzerr wrote:The brooms are out! Well done!
Thanks. I was really surprised that I swept them.
Before the series I was actually worried about even winning one game against them, given how stacked they are. I guess anything is possible when you have Durant on your team though.
First Round vs Indiana - 39.6 ppg Conference Semis vs Chicago - 50.2 ppg (NBA record) Conference Finals vs Detroit - 35.2 ppg NBA Finals vs Oklahoma City - 39 ppg
2016 Playoffs - 41.4 ppg
20 point games - 2 (27, 29) 30 point games - 9 (31, 32, 33, 35, 35, 37, 37, 38, 39) 40 point games - 4 (43, 47, 47, 49) 50 point games - 2 (50, 51) 80 point games - 1 (86)
