Thunder 88, Wolves 85
* Nick Collison made a lot of fans with his hustle tonight. He was on the floor for every loose ball. He hit the big sweeping lefty hook to all but seal the win. He came up with three steals and two blocks to go along with a non-flashy double-double of 10 points and 10 boards. Collison’s performance was the best of any Thunder player this season.
* Jeff Green put together his best game yet — 13 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot, again stuffing the stat sheet. And this time he was efficient, making six of 14 shots from the field, including the team’s lone 3-pointer.
* I wouldn’t read too much into Kevin Durant’s 7-for-21 shooting performance. He got good looks all night, but most of his shots rattled out. Those shots will begin to fall. I would question Durant’s assist total, zero Sunday night if you’re scoring at home. There are several aspects of Durants game that need to be developed, but how far down the list is making your teammates better? With all the attention he commands, he rarely should have a game with no assists.
* The Wolves made 16 of 16 free throws. The Thunder made 13 of 20.
* The Thunder won the rebounding battle for the first time, 50-38.
* Wolves coach Randy Wittman said after the loss that the Thunder’s 25-11 edge in second chance points was the difference in the game. A part of that rebounding total was a 19-9 advantage for the Thunder in offensive rebounds.
* Russell Westbrook took a big step in his development tonight. He’s playing with confidence and it already looks like the game is slowing down for him. There will be times when he struggles this season but other times he looks great. Tonight, aside from a few mental mistakes, he looked great. Keep an eye on how he handle’s Wednesday’s matchup against Rajon Rondo.
* After only three games, it’s easy to see what Joe Smith and Desmond Mason bring. Consistency for the most part. They are two veterans who don’t get rattled and can be counted on to bring the same energy and hustle plays night in and night out, plus adding a few timely baskets.
A few quotes about the crowd, announced at 18,163….
“It is good to get a win in this building, the way we got it. We played hard. People are going to leave the game and say we played hard tonight. It is very important to us to take advantage of home games. We have got to make it tough to play in this building. With the atmosphere we have here, we are going to see good effort.” — P.J. Carlesimo
“We wanted to get this not only for us, but for the fans. We were disappointed we couldn’t get the game on Wednesday for the fans, so it was nice to get this one for them.”
-DM-
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Go OKC Potatoes!!!