OKC - 2011/12 - Thunder Three-peat

[Phil89]

24/1/10

Oklahoma City Thunder [32-6] vs Cleveland Cavaliers [21-19]

Thunder fall short in thriller despite Durant career high



Oklahoma City travelled to Cleveland to take on the under achieving Cavaliers. The Thunder won their only other meeting this season 110-104 at home.
This was going to be a big test of the Thunder's Championship credentials. There was no home crowd to cheer them on this time.
The media had been building up the match up of two of the biggest stars of the game, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
It was Durant who got the upper hand early on. With 16 first quarter points, he lead the Thunder to a 27-23 lead at the first break.
In the second he continued his scoring run and had 24 by the half. Oklahoma City pulled out to a 53-45 lead at the half with solid bench play.
The third would be a scoring fest for both teams. Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison lead a revival for the Cavaliers.
Williams hit a half court three pointer on the buzzer to give Cleveland a 1 point lead heading into the fourth, 85-84.
In the first few minutes of the fourth, the lead switched back and forth. But Cleveland got on a run and lead 114-99 with 3 minutes left.
It looked like the game was over. However, the Thunder wouldn't give up. They piled on 9 unanswered points to get the score to 114-108.
Antawn Jamison had a chance to halt their momentum, but he only made 1 of 2 free throws. The next play Durant hit a three and the score was 115-111.
Next, Jeff Green drove into the paint and scored a lay up. 115-113, the Thunder looked like they were going to pull off another miraculous comeback.
With 42 seconds left Jamison sunk a massive three to get Cleveland to a 118-113 lead. It looked like the Thunder would come up short.
Rudy Gay managed to get the offensive rebound off a Durant missed three and lay it in to close the gap to 118-115.
Cleveland just needed to hold the ball. Fouling would do the Thunder no good in this situation. For some reason though, Mo Williams tried to pass.
Ben Wallace got a hand on Williams' pass and Jeff Green grabbed the ball and quickly called a time-out with 1.7 seconds remaining.
Everyone knew who was going to get the ball from the inbound. Kevin Durant already had 63 points for the night and had knocked down countless threes.
He managed to get three of James and got the ball about 30 feet from the rim. He launched up a hopeful shot for the tie. The crowd held it's breath.
For a split second it looked like it was going in, but it popped back out and the Cavaliers had equalled the season series 1-1.
Even though Durant hit a career high 63, his team mates didn't offer him enough support. The Thunder will look to bounce back against the Bobcats next up.


Player of the Game: Mo Williams

OKC - 27 26 31 31 115
CLE - 23 22 40 33 118

Top Scorers
Kevin Durant - 63
Mo Williams - 36
Antawn Jamison - 27
LeBron James - 24
Delonte West - 23

Assists
Russell Westbrook - 12
LeBron James - 10
Mo Williams - 8

Rebounds
Ben Wallace - 13
Shaquille O'Neal - 12
Antawn Jamison - 10
LeBron James - 10

[Azzdogs]

What a game by Durant! Tough to get the loss when Durant was on fire.

[Andrew]

63, not a bad effort at all by Durant. Shame it came in a losing effort, I imagine had you managed to force the OT he'd have gone off for 70+. Tremendous effort to even have a chance at overtime after trailing by double digits though.

[Phil89]

I can't remember how many 3 pointers Durant made. It must have been at least 10 though. He was in the zone

His final shot was so close. At least half the ball was in the hoop, but then it came out again

I think I should try to share the scoring load next match though. It seems to work better.

[kibaxx7]

Durant's on fire Good job man

[Dee.]

63 Points
Though you should share the scoring more,while Durant was on fire,almost everyone on the Cavs had 20&10's.

[Phil89]

It may seem that I'm not sharing the scoring load, but over the season so far my "Big 3" have been pretty even. They all average over 24 ppg this season.
Early on Rudy Gay was scoring loads because he was the new player on my team and his ability to get to the rim and score really impressed me.
Then Jeff Green had a good run because I discovered that he had more shooting ability than I had given him credit for and I like him as a player.
Now it's back to Durant because he is the real star of the team and the guy I originally intended to be my main scorer. Just like in real life.
But I try not to favour any of them in particular. I don't go out and try to get any of them 40+ points. I just roll with whoever is making the shots
In fact, in the game against Minnesota Durant had 34, Gay had 33 and Green had 31. I was happy that they could all perform in the same game together.

Points from 39 games so far:
KD - 26 26 26 24 33 18 25 18 18 23 32 21 32 29 24 23 25 28 43 25 33 19 25 38 27 33 34 35 33 46 63
(5 games 35 points or more), (12 games 30 points or more), (22 games 25 points or more), Highest score - 63

RG - 35 35 25 58 29 36 36 39 20 21 27 46 28 32 30 26 24 23 23 19 37 19 20 20 23 33 30 24
(8 games 35 points or more), (12 games 30 points or more), (17 games 25 points or more), Highest score - 58

JG - 24 23 34 24 18 31 22 29 34 29 25 25 21 36 33 28 31 17 39 18 29 35 34 30 31 25 33
(3 games 35 points or more), (12 games 30 points or more), (18 games 25 points or more), Highest score - 39

[Dee.]

is anyone else in the team is averaging at least 10-15 ppg?

[megarover]

Yea the next highest scorer is probably Westbrook. There is no way hes averaging at least 15 though!

[Andrew]

I think I should try to share the scoring load next match though. It seems to work better.

Absolutely, though sometimes you've got to go with the player with the hot hand.

[Phil89]

Westbrook is averaging about 7 ppg and about 8 apg. He doesn't score that much, but then he doesn't really have to.

[Phil89]

26/1/10

Oklahoma City Thunder [32-7] vs Charlotte Bobcats [26-17]

Thunder bounce back with win against Bobcats



Oklahoma City looked to bounce back from a heart breaking loss against Cleveland with a win in Charlotte against the Bobcats.
Perhaps a bit flat after the game against the Cavaliers, the Thunder started slowly and found themselves behind by 7 after the first quarter, 28-21.
They stepped up their offense in the second and reduced the Bobcats' lead to 2, 49-47. Kevin Durant was continuing his recent run of form.
The Thunder defense dominated in the third quarter, which allowed them to get out to a 76-65 lead with one quarter to play.
The fourth quarter was riddled with poor shots and turnovers. Add to this the defensive stops of both teams and not a lot of points were scored.
Kevin Durant top scored with 35 points. It was his 10th game in a row scoring 25 points or more.

Player of the Game: Kevin Durant

OKC - 21 26 29 18 94
CHA - 28 21 16 14 79

Top Scorers
Kevin Durant - 35
Jeff Green - 22
Stephen Jackson - 21

Assists
Raymond Felton - 10
Russell Westbrook - 8

Rebounds
Tyson Chandler - 11
Kevin Durant - 10
Boris Diaw - 8

[Azzdogs]

Durant is on fire.

[Andrew]

Yeah, let's see if you can match or beat the real streak. Good job getting back into the game after a bit of a sluggish fourth quarter, nice defensive effort holding them to 79 points.

[Clutch]

insaaane game vs CLE and tough loss; good to see it didn't faze KD vs the 'Cats

definitely one of my fav reads currently man; keep it up

[kibaxx7]

Nice rally you had to win the game.

[megarover]

Its pretty crazy how much your Big 3 scores. Wouldn't be surprised if they all made the All-Star team

[Phil89]

28/1/10

Horford and Barbosa trade places



The Phoenix Suns have today announced that they have traded forward Leandro Barbosa to Atlanta in exchange for center Al Horford.
The trade involved only the two players mentioned above and appears to have been a straight swap with no draft picks included.
Horford, 23, has 2 years remaining on a $4.15m per year contract, while Barbosa, 27, has 3 years left on his $3.3m per year contract.
It is unclear why Atlanta chose to trade their starting center for a forward who will likely come off the bench for them.

[Phil89]

28/1/10

Oklahoma City Thunder [33-7] vs Atlanta Hawks [16-26]

Hawks big fourth secures win over Thunder



Oklahoma City travelled to Atlanta to take on the Hawks on the same day they traded Al Horford to the Suns. Zaza Pachulia moved into starting center.
The game started evenly with both sides getting their offense going early. The quarter ended just as it had started, with both teams level at 23-23.
The Thunder pulled out to a handy 6 point lead by the half and looked like they were in a strong position to record another victory.
They held firm in the third and only lost 2 points from their lead. They held a 4 point advantage with one to play, 69-65. Jeff Green was playing well.
The Hawks produced a brilliant last quarter and overran the Thunder. Mike Bibby lead the charge for Atlanta and finished with 28 points.
Kevin Durant maintained his run of games scoring 25 or more points, with a 31 point effort tonight. He has done so in 11 straight games now.

Player of the Game: Joe Johnson

OKC - 23 24 22 22 91
ATL - 23 18 24 31 96

Top Scorers
Kevin Durant - 31
Mike Bibby - 28
Jeff Green - 24
Joe Johnson - 23

Assists
Russell Westbrook - 10
Joe Johnson - 10

Rebounds
Marvin Williams - 13
Zaza Pachulia - 9
Jeff Green - 8

[Azzdogs]

Tough loss. Joe Johnson sure racked up the assists. Did Barbosa play?

[Phil89]

Yeah, he came off the bench but didn't really contribute much I don't think.

[Andrew]

Shame about the loss. No inclination to override that trade?

[Phil89]

I didn't really consider it a blockbuster trade, so I left it. Can't undo them all

[kibaxx7]

Barbosa for Horford, I think it's ok. A little better for the Suns, but ok. Nice win man.

[megarover]

Joe was diming everybody but where was Gay that game.