• The Warriors got off to an 8-0 run after converting wide open jumpers and getting into the paint with ease. Meanwhile, the Thunder looked out of sync offensively early and couldn’t get shots to drop. In those first two minutes, it looked like this just might not be the Thunder’s night. Looked like the overtime thriller at Portland had taken its toll.

• Then Russell Westbrook decided to do something about his team’s sluggish start. Westbrook scored a layup on an ultra-aggressive and athletic attack. Then another one, both three-point plays. Then a pair of pull-ups. Before you knew it, the Thunder had tied it up at 14-all.

• Kevin Durant didn’t really have it going early. He missed his first three shots, all good looks, and just didn’t appear to be in rhythm. And just when you thought KD just didn’t have it, the guy starts throwing in off-balanced leaners for and-ones. Crazy how good he is.
• Durant finished with 33 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. He would have had his first career triple-double had Serge Ibaka not blown at least two of his set-ups.
• Warriors forward David Lee actually did have a triple-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Remember when everyone in OKC wanted the Thunder to break the bank to sign him?
• You’ve got to be happy with the win. But defensively, the Thunder left a lot to be desired. The Warriors’ point total was an opponent season high (116), Golden State shot lights out (55 percent), the Thunder had no answer for Monta Ellis (game and career-high 48 points) and OKC struggled once again in the pick-and-roll and defending the three-point line (9-of-21).
• Said Durant: “We want to strive toward perfection. We want to be one of those teams that are looked at as a really good team, and tonight we kind of had too many lapses. As a leader, I’m a little upset at myself for letting that happen. Of course we’re happy about the win. But the stuff that went on in the game, we have to correct it and try to get better. We don’t want to have games like this every game. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board.”

• The best thing you can take from this one is the Thunder showed again that it can play fast and win a shootout. The more versatile the Thunder is the better. But, really, this team is built to win shootouts. It’s the slow-paced, grind-it-out, games that require halfcourt efficiency that the Thunder still needs to prove it can consistently win. When the Thunder figures out both styles, it will be a dangerous, dangerous team come playoff time.
• There was a mysterious score change at the end of the third quarter that appeared controversial at first. What had happen’ was the refs went back and ruled a 3 by Westbrook with 4:18 remaining in the third period was actually a two. That changed the score from 93-92 going into the fourth quarter to 93-91, Warriors, at the start of the final period.
• The Thunder is now 6-1 in games decided by four points or less.
• Nazr Mohammed had brought it the past two games. He scored all eight of his points during a 13-2 run the second unit used to start the second period. Between his scoring tonight and his rebounding at Portland, I figure that will silence Thunder heads clamoring for Cole Aldrich at least until, oh, Thursday.
• What I liked best about Naz’s game tonight? His stand-still block of Ekpe Udoh. Naz just put his arms straight up and stuffed Udoh on a post move. Made him look like a little kid.
• Durant said he didn’t call glass on his go-ahead jumper. What is it about the Thunder and bank shots at Golden State?

• The first quarter was disturbing. For the fourth time this season — the fourth time in the past six games — the Thunder has allowed an opponent to score at least 30 points in the opening period. Golden State had 35 tonight.

• For as athletic as he is, Serge Ibaka looses a lot of jump balls.
• Ellis’ 48 points broke Tony Parker’s individual scoring record against the Thunder this season. Parker, of course, had 42 last Saturday at San Antonio. OKC was one LaMarcus Aldridge point away from allowing three straight 40-point games to three different players. That probably hasn’t happened that often.
• Ellis scored 40 points in 26 minutes tonight. Is he an All-Star?
• I appreciate Thabo Sefolosha’s contributions as much as anyone. I do. But I refuse to believe that he single-handedly makes that big of a difference to the Thunder’s defense. Does he help? Yes. Is he a game-changer at times? No doubt. But some of what we’re seeing now can’t possibly be justified solely by saying Sefolosha is absent.
• Speaking of Sefolosha. He told me tonight that he could be back any day now. But he ruled out Thursday’s game. It’s possible he returns Friday at Utah. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if the coaching and medical staffs gave it two more games and let him rest over the weekend and prepare for a return next Tuesday at home against Utah.
• At one point late in the third quarter, both teams combined to make 17 of 29 3-pointers. The teams finished a combined 20-of-47 from long range.
• The Thunder took nine 3s in the final seven minutes of the third quarter!
• Before the game, Warriors coach and former ABC and ESPN color commentator Mark Jackson weighed in on Blake Griffin’s dunk on Kendrick Perkins. Someone asked Jackson if as a defensive-minded coach he appreciated Perk challenging the dunk. “We can dress it up all we want,” Jackson said. “But it was a thing of beauty. And I would have probably said ‘Mama, there goes that man.’”
• In the same breath, Jackson actually complimented Perk for the play. “The thing you love about Kendrick Perkins is if you had to rewind, he’d do the same exact thing. He really could care less being in a poster for Blake Griffin. He was part of the rotation. It was his responsibility. The beautiful thing is, watching it, here’s what I’m thinking, ”The next one somebody’s getting hit.’ That shows how much I think of Kendrick Perkins, his professionalism, his old-school mentality. I felt sorry for the next guy that tried it. Fortunately, it didn’t take place that night. But he’s a guy that’s a pro and certainly completes that Thunder basketball team.”
• Booing must be a language in the Bay Area. These fans never stop.
• The Thunder pulled off a slightly different version of the skip pass tonight, or at least one I’d never seen. James Harden was about three steps across halfcourt near the sideline, lulling his defender to sleep with his dribble and an occasional jab. All of a sudden, Harden skipped it across to Daequan Cook, who of course benefited from a beautiful back screen by Nick Collison. Cook swished it in rhythm while falling down out of bounds.
• Collison had the typical Nick Collison type of game. I thought his rebounding and screens were difference-makers.
• I learned that the Warriors have a skip pass, too. Wasn’t as nice as the Thunder’s. But the pass was from Lee, which deserves some major credit since it came from a big man.
• One night after I wrote that I hadn’t said much about Collison taking many charges this year, he drew another one. This one was on Klay Thompson.
• Harden had another nice offensive game on the road. That’s three straight now.
• Nine turnovers for Westbrook. Four came in the first half. No other player had turned it over in the first 24 minutes. I understand the guy has the ball in his hands a lot, and he’s a scoring point guard. But as some point, he’s got to cut down on those.

• Up next. At Sacramento on Thursday night.

-DM-

Nuggets from my notebook from Friday’s win over Memphis.

• Kevin Durant is indeed The Real McCoy.

• The way KD took over the game tonight just leaves you shaking your head and admiring his greatness.

• Durant scored 16 of his game-high 36 points in the final quarter. It was one less than the Grizzlies had as a team!!

• More impressively, 14 of KD’s 16 fourth-quarter points came in the final five minutes with neither team ahead by more than five points. Those are all clutch-time points, folks.

• Memphis coach Lionel Hollins on KD: “He’s a great player. I mean, that’s all you can say. He’s a great player. He made great plays and great shots down the stretch. He took over the game. He’s going to be one of the all-time greats if he stays healthy.”

• I said this tonight on one of our award-winning video recaps (you don’t really believe that do you?). I was more impressed with Durant’s rebounding in the second half than his scoring down the stretch. The points will be what’s remembered, and rightfully so. But KD’s rebounding is more of a testament to his development into an all-around player. Better yet, a cold-blooded killer. He had zero at the half. He finished with 10, including four in the fourth quarter. It helped the Thunder take control of the boards in the decisive fourth quarter after Memphis manhandled OKC for the first three.

• OK, back to KD’s scoring. Dude had missed all five of his 3-pointers before burying perhaps the biggest shot of the night with 53.8 seconds remaining. Said KD: “That 3, as I was shooting, it looked good. But I was missing. So it was just a matter of time before one of those were going to go down for me.”

• Durant said he liked the 3 more than the beautiful, off-balance J he hit over Rudy Gay with 22 seconds left. “Because I had missed five of them that looked good,” Durant said. “But that one finally went in for me and it was a critical part of the game. So it was a big shot.”

• Consider this the second time Durant has stolen shine from a teammate. James Harden was about to be the player of this game before Durant decided to turn deadly. Harden ignited a 22-10 run that turned an eight-point deficit at the start of the fourth period into a four-point lead with 3:14 left to play. Over that run, Harden scored or assisted on 14 of the Thunder’s points.

• When it’s a close game in the fourth quarter, I don’t like to see much of anything out of the Thunder’s offense except the ball in Harden’s hands. That’s the only time I can relax. And it’s the only time I know something good will happen.

• One thing I didn’t like about Harden tonight. He got the Durant treatment by the Grizzlies after getting hot and didn’t respond that well. Tony Allen switched onto him, and Memphis even sent a few doubles his way. But when Allen began playing more physically in denying the ball, Harden couldn’t get open. Keep an eye on that. If teams start doing that, the Thunder’s saving grace is gone.

• Daequan Cook got the start again for the injured Thabo Sefolosha and played his tail off…defensively! Cook started the game 0-for-4 from the field but was a pest at the other end. He blocked a putback attempt by Allen, broke up an alley-oop intended for Gay, boxed out Marc Gasol so well he pushed him all the way under the net and blocked another shot by Allen. And that was all in the first five minutes. Cook’s final line was five points on 2-for-7 shooting with seven rebounds and three blocked shots in 32 minutes. Be honest. You’d love it if Kendrick Perkins provided that production.

• Perk’s actual line: five points, one rebound and one blocked shot in 30 minutes. Insert Scott Brooks‘ favorite line here.

• Is Cook making a case to remain in the starting lineup even when Sefolosha returns? Some already think he deserves it. And as I wrote after the Mavs game, at least one player thinks he’s a good fit in the first string. I doubt it will ever happen. But Cook has quietly become a much better defender than he was when he first got here. And, although I don’t know where he ranks among other shooting guards, his rebounding appears to be above average. And we all know his shooting gives the first five a different dynamic. Could it at least be worth Brooks considering?

• Brooks on Cook: “D.C. was all over the ball. He was all over the floor. It’s a nice luxury to have one of the best 3-point shooters play the defense that he plays. He plays hard. He’s always in the right spot. He’s a great help side defender.”

• It seems Cook will get some more time to present his case to crack the first five. As our man John Rohde reports, Sefolosha will be sidelined a tad longer.

• So much for Perk chilling out on the techs. One game after he told me he would, he was whistled for a double technical foul after getting tangled up with Gasol. It was Perk’s ninth of the season. He’s now four shy of an automatic one-game suspension. With 44 games left, I’m not sure Perk has enough chill in him.

• Was that Perk on that early reverse layup of Dr. J? (Too far? Yeah, definitely too far.)

• What an awful opening three quarters the Thunder played. What, you thought I was going to overlook it? The Thunder won this game thanks only to a terrific fourth quarter in which it outscored Memphis 32-17.

• The first 36 minutes were the worse I’ve seen the Thunder play this season. I mean it. OKC didn’t even look interested in being on the court. The Thunder’s defensive rebounding was disgusting (Memphis had 14 offensive boards). OKC gave up way too many second-chance points (19). There were sloppy passes being made all over the court. Turnovers galore (15 leading to 22 Grizzlies points). Missed free throws (20 of 25 through three but just 11-of-16 with 4:16 left in the third). A lane violation (by Perk, wiping out a KD freebie) and some terrible transition defense.

• When Brooks admits his team didn’t play with effort, you know it was bad. “We were a little flat for some reason,” Brooks said. “We usually don’t play as sluggish as we played tonight.”

• Harden when asked why the first three quarters were nothing like the last one: “That’s a great question. We were trying to figure the same thing out.”

• Boy, that fourth quarter was might impressive, though. Don’t overlook the defense that helped decide the outcome. The Thunder held the Grizzlies to 5-for-18 shooting, blocked five shots and turned Memphis over five times. OKC also kept Memphis off the free throw line, holding the Grizzlies to just six attempts in the final period. Only four of those came in the final five minutes.

• If I had a Fave Five of NBA players, I think Tony Allen would be in it. He is one tough sucker.

• I could have sworn Allen was about to fight somebody tonight. First it looked like it would be Russell Westbrook. Then it looked like it might be Harden. In between, it looked like it would be O.J. Mayo.

• Did you see KD’s left handed jump hook attempt tonight. I don’t think I even want to see him add that to his arsenal. That’s scary.

• The M-V-P chants for KD as he stood at the stripe with 17.4 seconds left…fitting.

• Harden on KD’s clutchness tonight: “When he gets it going like that, you just got to sit back and watch. He made every shot tonight at the end of the game. He led us to victory.”

• Y’all like the man-leggings that’s sweeping the Thunder roster? Westbrook, KD, Perk and Reggie Jackson all wore them tonight. Most guys wear an even longer, tighter version of them under their clothes after games. But I’ve never bothered to ask why. I asked Nick Collison tonight. He told me they’re supposed to help with recovery. Then he said, “But I don’t know if they helping during the game.”

• It seems the Thunder gets better after every game against the Grizzlies. They’re a tough, hard-nosed, never-say-die team. They’re physical. They play smart and together (at times). And they’re extremely well-coached. It’s always a battle between these two. Said Brooks: “When you play against them, you know that you have to play tough. They step up to that level. So hopefully we take something with us to the next game.”

• Up next. At San Antonio on Saturday.

-DM-

• The first three nuggets in my actual notebook were as follows:
  1. Serge Ibaka blows nice Russell Westbrook pass, nearly air-balls layup.
  2. Ibaka blows putback layup after Kevin Durant miss.
  3. Ibaka dropped feed from Russ on a cut (not a great pass)
• As you can see, I was all ready to warm up these Rumblings and rip Ibaka a new one. He was that awful in the opening quarter. I was shocked, shocked I say, that Thunder coach Scott Brooks stuck with him for as long as he did. I just knew Brooks was going to yank him for Nick Collison 3 1/2 minutes in. Boy, are you glad Brooks didn’t?

• Ibaka was incredible in the last three quarters. Save a few defensive lapses (my fifth nugget was Ibaka’s slow recovery on a pick-and-roll that allowed Jason Terry to thread the needle to Brandan Wright for a layup) and some blown opportunities offensively, he saved the Thunder in this one. He set a career-high with 10 blocks and grabbed 11 rebounds. He ignited the Thunder’s defensive intensity in the second quarter after it was nowhere to be found in the first. He cut off the Mavs’ seemingly endless supply of easy layups that came effortlessly in the first quarter and struck fear into Dallas’ scorers each time they entered the paint. This was as good as we’ve ever seen Ibaka, matching his Game 2 performance against the Lakers in the 2010 playoffs and his Game 5 showing against Denver last year. As has been the case with Ibaka, the question now is will it carry over?

• Ibaka explained that his big night stemmed from realizing that it wasn’t his night offensively and seeing that he had it going defensively. “I like to get offense,” Ibaka said. “But I feel like tonight, on offense, it wasn’t my day. And I feel like on defense it was working, so I just said, ‘OK. Let’s be focused.’ And the blocked shots were working tonight so I just kept going.”

• Without a doubt the best thing I’ve ever seen or heard from Ibaka is the explanation he provided that he asked off of Dirk Nowitzki so he could protect the paint. Honestly, I wasn’t sure Ibaka had that type of basketball IQ. Not trying to be mean in saying that. I just had never seen anything from him that demonstrates that. This definitely does.

• Ibaka’s 10 rejections tied the franchise record for blocks in a single game. Shawn Kemp, in 1991, and Calvin Booth, in 2004, both registered 10 as well.

• I can’t wait until Seattle gets a new team — ahem, BUILD A FREAKIN’ ARENA, WASHINGTON! — just so we no longer have to include Sonics records in the Thunder’s history. Seattle trolls, save it. We know you don’t want the Thunder to have that history, either. The feeling’s mutual.

• Led by Ibaka, the Thunder got back to defensive dominance. The Mavs scored just 34 points in the final two quarters, an opponent low for the second half, was limited to 8-for-38 shooting in the second half and had just three players in double digits.

• Dirk had just eight points on 2-for-15 shooting. Any Thunder fan who hasn’t been living under a rock knows how impressive that is for OKC. Doesn’t matter that Dirk is having a bad year, or that he’s just three games back from a knee injury. Dirk is a habitual Thunder killer and OKC has rarely, if ever, found an answer for him.

• Durant said Dirk missed a lot of good looks, which I can’t argue with. Brooks agreed, but I liked the coach’s quote: “We finally found out that he was human.”

• Next to Ibaka’s incredible one-man performance, the best thing about this game was that everyone played their role brilliantly. KD scored (although not efficiently) and rebounded his tail off (game-high 13), Westbrook was tremendous throughout attacking and putting pressure on Dallas’ defense as a scorer (game-high 35 points), James Harden got back to being James Harden (though he still struggled with his shot on the road), Perk both defended Dirk well and rebounded well and even scored well, Collison did the same, rookie Reggie Jackson was the steady hand the Thunder needs him to be and Daequan Cook provided solid, yet scarce, offense and some pretty impressive defense and rebounding. Total team effort.

• Harden damn near messed around and got a triple-double. He was just 3-for-11 from the field but had 10 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. Best part: he turned it over only once.

• Brooks went with Cook as the starting shooting guard after the monstrosity that was the Harden experiment Monday night. And it worked pretty well. I wouldn’t base the success of that decision off of the 29-21 deficit that the Thunder faced after the first quarter. To me, that was more a defensive issue and Cook’s man, Vince Carter, had only four of those points. Instead, I’d look more at the rotation balance that returned and the additional spacing Cook provided Russ and KD.

• This was Cook’s first ever start with the Thunder. It was just his 27th career start and the first since Feb. 27, 2010 when he was a member of the Miami Heat.  Cook told me after the game that he felt comfortable with the first string (I believe his exact words, only half-jokingly, was “I can play anywhere.”) I had another player tell me Cook is a great fit in the starting lineup.

• Doubt we see Cook crack the starting rotation on any consistent basis. Thabo Sefolosha seems set there this season for as long as he’s healthy. But we have absolutely no idea how bad Sefolosha’s injury is. I asked Brooks before the game if he’s concerned that it could linger all season and he said yes. “That’s definitely a concern,” Brooks said. “But we’ll see how he feels (Thursday).”

• Also spoke to Perk before the game about his technical foul issues. He picked up his eighth on Monday and is now five away from an automatic one-game suspension. Perk, who earlier this year said he typically cools it at eight, promised he will now. “I’ll pull back and chill out,” Perk told me. “I do have to chill out.”

• Watching how Perk chills out is a joy in itself within a game. He thought he got fouled on his first made field goal and instead of griping just looked at one official and smiled all the way down on defense. Early in the third quarter, after getting called for a foul against Dirk, Perk didn’t shout at the ref or stare him down. He strutted over to his bench, bent over and barked to assistant Mark Bryant, who was sitting on the second row. In sharing his feelings, Perkins told Bryant, “That’s bull****.” Three times.

• Y’all coming around on RJ yet? Still not? You will. You can see him starting to settle into his role as the primary backup to Westbrook, and he’s quietly gaining confidence again and getting pretty good at it. I can’t understand why so many fear that he’s the weak link to a championship. The guy’s played 15 career games. He is not today what he will be in May. There will still be growing pains, sure. But he’ll get better. Besides, this team doesn’t require much from its backup point guard. Harden is the man in that second unit. All RJ will have to do is not make mistakes. My money is on him being able to do that, while also mixing in an occasional outstanding performance.

• I’m sure the Rick Carlisle incident will be a big deal.  I couldn’t see it from my seat, and I still haven’t seen a replay. But ESPN’s Marc Stein surmises that Carlisle is “1,000 percent” guaranteed to get slapped with a suspension. Carlisle started his post game press conference addressing the incident. “I want to apologize to our franchise, Mark, our fans,” Carlisle said. “The incident where the ball got kicked into the stands, that can’t happen. My intent was not to kick it into the stands. I was trying to kick it to the referee, but I’m not a very good kick. But that can’t happen. The officials made the right call on that one. That’s a regrettable situation.”

• Is kicking it to the referee really that much better?

• Figures that after going 0 for his last 75 (unofficially) on his one-legged fadeaway, also known as the Dirk, KD would come into the originator’s house and knock one down. He hit it with just over seven minutes to play in the second. Perhaps not surprisingly, it got much less of a reaction from Mavs fans than it has elsewhere on the road. Guess Dirk’s got them spoiled.

• Brandan Wright has got to have rockets for legs. Homeboy can get up!

• No Nazr Mohammed tonight. I wouldn’t read much into it. Chalk it up to a matchup problem. Brendan Haywood was out tonight, and the Mavs were short on bigs. The ones they had, Wright and Yi Jianlian, are more athletic, face-up type guys so Naz probably wouldn’t have been that helpful. That, or he’s hurt and I’m just an idiot. But I fully expect to see Naz back out there Friday against Memphis.

• Just before the Mavs inbounded the ball following a stoppage midway through the second period, Dallas’ PA guy announced that the Mavs had four seconds to get the ball across halfcourt. I’ve never heard anything like that. Nice homecourt advantage, I guess. I’m of the opinion that the less noise the PA guy makes the better. But for all the stuff OKC’s PA guy blurts out during games, it might not be a bad idea to start splicing in some helpers like that.

• There’s about 50 million other things that I can say/analyze about this one. I’ll save it for another day.

• Up next. At home against Memphis on Friday.

-DM-

• First thing’s first. Here it is.
• There’s really not much I can add, except that it was the most vicious dunk I’ve ever seen in person, and I’ve been there to witness some pretty wicked dunks from Blake Griffin the past few years – a baseline slam soaring in from the left wing in Norman comes to mind when he scrapped his head on the backboard, which thankfully was padded. I was seated behind the basket where Griffin threw down the dunk of the year in the NBA on Monday night against the Thunder. Truly scary. I can’t imagine what it looked like from Kendrick Perkins’ point of view. Glad I was lucky enough to see it. A truly amazing athlete, Griffin.
• Griffin’s dunk easily beat what LeBron James did Sunday as the NBA’s top dunk this season. James jumped over a crouching, 5-foot-somethin’ John Lucas III. Griffin threw it down over the 6-foot-9, 267-pound, get-outta-my-face Perkins. Any questions? Heck, even James himself chose Griffin with this tweet – @KingJames (LeBron James): “Dunk of the Year!! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!! Wow!! I guess I’m #2 now. Move over #6“
• OK, one more look. Post-game reactions on the dunk:
• Griffin: “When they play the replay over the Jumbotron, you hear the crowd. DJ’s reaction is always my gauge on what the dunk was like. I think that time he screamed, grabbed me and bear-hugged me. I figure he thought it was cool.”
• Clippers point guard Chris Paul: “That’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, just like the dunk (Griffin had) against the Knicks (last season). You’re watching the game, and I’m playing the game. So I can get excited for a split second, but I have to keep everyone locked in and let that one go.”
• Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro: “He’s going to do that when he gets moving. I thought it was a great pass and obviously a great finish. He’s such a tremendous athlete, you’re going to see things like that once in a while just because of his aggressiveness and the way he attacks the basket.”
• Perkins: “It happens. At the end of the day, if you’re a shot blocker, you’re going to get dunked on. It was a great play that he made. Obviously, I wish I wasn’t in it, but it was a great play that he made.”
• Thunder All-Star Kevin Durant: “Man, I don’t care about that dunk.”
• Back to the game. The Thunder took a 4-0 lead and then stunk. If Durant and Russell Westbrook hadn’t shown up offensively, we’re looking at a 50-point loss. Seriously. Hey, bad games happen, and this was one of them. However comma, the Clippers are starting to figure things out, which is trouble for the rest of the West. Thunder coach Scott Brooks said it was the best team OKC has played thus far and he’s right. Now the fun begins for the Clippers, who play seven of their next eight on the road, just like the stretch the Thunder currently is experiencing right now. Keep an eye on the Clippers. They were wicked good on Monday. 
• Brooks said his team is at its best when it defends, and he’s right, but OKC also has the ability to score. They’ve got the two-time scoring champ, fercryinoutloud, and a sidekick scoring 20-something. There’s no polite way to put this, but imagine how good the Thunder could be if it shared the ball like the Clippers? LA had 28 assists on 45 field goals. OKC had 15 assists on 38 field goals. Look, I know Durant and Westbrook have the ability to score off the dribble and not off the pass and James Harden is like a knife through butter, but there’s nothing prettier to watch in basketball than good ball movement. Nothing. You’re telling me whipping the ball around and finding Durant or Westbrook or Harden or anybody for an open shot would be a bad thing?
• When Brooks shows his team footage of this loss, I hope he doesn’t do it for defensive purposes. I hope he tells his players to watch how the Clippers did it offensively. LA had six players score in double-digits and three had 20 or more points. Three guys took 16 shots each, and the other three took 11, nine and seven. Good luck defending that. 
• Clippers guard Chauncey Billups has played a lot of basketball. He’s in his 15^th NBA season and also has played internationally. At no time does Billups recall any team going on a 12-0 run in a span of 51 seconds by hitting four straight 3-pointers, which is precisely what LA did to deflate OKC at the end of the first half Monday. “I don’t believe I have,” Billups said. Not even during Team USA’s 121-66 victory over Angola at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, or four days earlier in a 35-point win over Tunisia? “Maybe. Maybe,” Billups said with a smile.
• With the acquisitions of the three C’s (Chris, Chauncey and Caron), the Clippers instantaneously have transformed themselves from three-plus decades of being a punch line to being a potential powerhouse.
• Brooks: “They are good team. They are the best team we’ve played all year. They have everything – a talented team, their bench is really good and they played well. Give them credit. They took it to us and we have work to do.”
• Nick Collison: “They’re good. Man, they’re a really good basketball team. I was impressed with them. They have a lot of guys that can play. We can play much better, but they do a good job of moving the ball and finding open players.”
• Bad news arrived 90 minutes before tipoff when Brook announced Thabo Sefolosha would not play because of a sore right foot. He remains day-to-day. OKC’s rhythm and substitution rotation was completely out of whack all night. Would the Thunder have won had Sefolosha played? Perhaps. Perhaps not. The entire dynamic of the game likely would have been different. Sefolosha has now missed two starts and OKC has lost both games (at home against Portland being the other). Games like Monday’s are why Sefolosha starts, why he must start. This is not to pin the loss on Harden, but if Harden starts and he’s off the mark, you get what you got on Monday — the Thunder hanging on for dear life.
• Collison on the importance of Sefolosha: “We definitely missed him out there. Defensively, he’s as good as there is. Offensively, he does a lot of things, too. He’s kind of like the motor oil out there offensively where he does a lot of small things that make things go smoothly. He makes a good hard cut to get somebody else open. Obviously, defensively he’s great, too. We gave up a lot on the perimeter and he would have helped. He allows our second unit to play with James. It’s a big loss. Hopefully he can get healthy. We need him back.”
• Brooks said the Thunder has played one bad game. Ever the realist, Collison smiled and clicked off all four losses: “We didn’t great in D.C. In Dallas, um … against Portland …”
• Larry King walked by roughly 5 feet in front of me. Dude looked old. Then again, he is 78 if my math is right (did I carry the one?). King’s seventh wife (eight marriages), Shawn, looked half his age – and she’s 52. 
• At Dallas on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

- JOHN ROHDE

• Thunder All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are starting to have fun with their allegedly poor working relationship. As media waited inside the locker room after Friday’s game, a row of smiling OKC teammates started dogging each other about their wardrobes. They were kidding, or perhaps they weren’t. It doesn’t really matter. When the good-natured ribbing increased in volume, Durant spoke to Westbrook just loud enough for reporters to hear. “Look, Durant and Westbrook are arguing again. They’re arguing and arguing,” Durant whispered. Westbrook pointed at one reporter and said, “Look, he’s writing that down.” (Actually, I did write that down and you just read it – in its entire context.)
• Speaking of Durant vs. Westbrook, you have to read this account of what transpired between Durant and a local television commentator during pre-game warmups. This is vintage Durant and, no, there probably isn’t a better guy in the NBA, although a handful of his teammates aren’t far off – Nick Collison, Nazr Mohammed, Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefolosha, Royal Ivey and Daequan Cook head the list of runners-up.
• Serge Ibaka, who is always the last Thunder player to finish showering and dressing, seemed surprised when I waited him out after all other players had departed. Ibaka had a look that said (in broken English, of course) “You want to talk to me?” With a shrug, Ibaka said, “I try to do my best to be there for us.” Ibaka was an absolute monster against Golden State with season highs in points (20) and rebounds (12). Warriors coach Mark Jackson mentioned Durant, Westbrook and James Harden as three guys who can “take over a basketball game.” But when you throw Ibaka into the mix, well, good luck with that. “Serge Ibaka did what we’ve been asking our big guys to do,” Jackson said.
•  The only downer about Ibaka’s night: His streak of 31 straight games with at least one blocked shot ended. It was the longest active streak in the NBA, according to STATS, Inc.
•  Durant had a season-high 37 points and 14 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Which stat did he like more? “Man, I was past due with the big scoring night, so it felt good to score some points,” Durant said. “With the rebounds, it’s not every night I can go get 14, so that feels good to help my team out in that aspect.”
•  Miami’s LeBron James might be having his best all-around season so far, but Durant is right there with him for league MVP. In fact, Durant might be slightly ahead.
• Perkins is the anti-Westbrook. How so? Unlike Perkins, Westbrook fills up a stat sheet – 28 points, 11 assists, seven steals, seven turnovers and six rebounds against Golden State. Meanwhile, Perkins had two points, five rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. Make no mistake, however. Perk is a huge reason the Thunder is doing so well. “He brings it every night,” OKC coach Scott Brooks said. “I never look at his stat sheet. I always skip his name when I look at it. It’s not about stats. He does so many things for us that looking at a stat sheet does an injustice to his game.”
• I saw footage of Harden’s penetrating moves as a player at Arizona State. He makes it look even easier now that he is in the NBA. How can that possibly be?
• Sefolosha left the game with a sore right foot in the first quarter, got it re-taped and returned in the second quarter, only to be scorched by rookie guard Klay Thompson, who had 10 first-half points. “I tried to come back, but I couldn’t chase anybody. I couldn’t do anything, so I called it a night,” said Sefolosha, who officially is listed as day-to-day. By the way, “day-to-day” might as well be added to the official list of “The Thunder Way.” Everybody is listed as day-to-day. If only it were true with reserve guard Eric Maynor.
• Speaking of Maynor, he did not make the trip, but as a tribute the team posts his name plate and hangs his game jersey in a locker for every game.
• Cook didn’t miss a shot from 3-point range on Wednesday night against New Orleans (3 for 3) and didn’t make a shot from 3-point range on Friday (0 for 4). Ahh, the life of a shooter.
• Golden State’s scouting report on the Thunder included several items. Among the many things scribbled on the whiteboard inside the Warriors’ locker room: “OKC 27^th in turnovers;” a warning about Westbrook “laying in the weeds for steals on outlet passes;” and also “Durant: Make him play defense.”
• The Thunder made just 4 of 17 (.235) 3-pointers compared to 12 of 28 (.429) for the Warriors. OKC was outscored by 24 from 3-point range, but Golden State was outscored by 17 at the free-throw line. The Thunder regained its touch from the line (32 of 37 for .865). The Warriors made 15 of 19 (.789).
• A whole lot of turnovers (42 total) weren’t turned into a whole lot of points (30 total).
• Pointing out the obvious, when the Warriors make 3-pointers, they’re really good. When they don’t, they’re really not.
• At LA Clippers on Monday night.

 - John Rohde

• Monty Williams was my pick to win Coach of the Year. Can I get a mulligan? Please!!!

• You knew this one would be somewhat competitive. If nothing else, Williams will get his team to play hard, which is why I thought the Hornets would be this year’s surprise team in the first place. Plus, New Orleans lost its last three games by a combined six points. The Hornets might have come in on an eight game losing streak, but these guys know how to compete and not go out without a fight.

• Serge Ibaka is coming around folks. This had to be his best game yet. And he just looks completely different now than he did in most of the first 10 games or so. His energy level has been great and he just looks more focused. Earlier in the season there were times where he didn’t even look interested in being out there. Now, Ibaka is rebounding with aggression and finding a way to be around the ball more on both ends. He started off excellent tonight on the glass and it led to some confidence on offense. Ibaka was an animal in the paint with putbacks and even looked good a time or two in the pick-and-pop with Russell Westbrook.

• Thunder coach Scott Brooks on Ibaka: “Serge was really good tonight, scoring around the basket, making his jump shot.”

• Brooks said at practice Tuesday that he has made it a point to get Ibaka more involved offensively. But Brooks credited Ibaka for his 10-point first quarter tonight rather than anything the coaching staff did. “He was aggressive,” Brooks said. “I wish I could take the credit, but I’m not…Give him the credit. He was putting himself in a position to score.”

• I asked Ibaka before the game why he doesn’t break out the Air Congo anymore. His response: “I’m getting old.”

• Ibaka’s man defense left more to be desired. It seemed like whoever his man was got a bucket any time he wanted in the first quarter. Ibaka bit on two pump fakes in the first half, too, one one Jason Smith and one on Jarrett Jack. We continue to wait on the discipline to kick in.

• The Hornets must be the kings of the circus shot. That or the kings of the bank shot. These guys had at least three circus shots in the first half, two by Emeka Okafor and one by Carl Landry. And when they weren’t putting in off-balanced, falling-down prayers, they were banking them in.

• This was not a pretty win. And not just because the game was a complete and utter bore. Offensively, things are really messy at times for the Thunder. By now we know that if the Thunder isn’t scoring in transition, it could be a really long night. Fortunately for the Thunder, some easy chances came tonight in transition and off Hornets turnovers. But there just seems to be tons of instability and indecisiveness on the offensive end of the floor.

• The most glaring problem tonight in the halfcourt offense was that nobody seemed to realize that Kevin Durant was having a great game. Go back and watch the first four minutes of the third quarter to get a complete understanding of how oblivious to that fact OKC appeared tonight. Durant was 6-for-6 from the field in the first half, yet when the offense struggled in the first four minutes of the third KD could barely get a touch. This is when Thunder players should be glad KD is not Kobe, because Durant had every right to snap. But of course KD kept his cool. He patiently watched Westbrook miss three shots, Ibaka miss a jumper and Thabo Sefolosha misfire on a 3.

• Turnovers are the other big problem. The Thunder had 21 of them tonight. Six players had two or more. New Orleans scored 21 points off those giveaways, and if the Hornets were any good the Thunder might have lost this game.

• After tonight, the Thunder is now averaging 18.3 assists and 16.6 turnovers.

• Nights like tonight are when you wish Westbrook had a filter. It just wasn’t his night. He was off and he had no clue how to turn it on. But he kept forcing the issue and, in the process, shutting out his teammates with one ill-advised attack after another. Russ has been great lately, and it wouldn’t be fair to make a big deal out of this one performance. But this game is a prime example of the instincts that he lacks and is still looking to learn. The better option for him clearly would have been to defer and instead of continuing to try to be deadly with his own offense.

• It’s possible Daequan Cook saved this game for the Thunder. His 3-pointer with 10:42 left to play extended the Thunder’s lead back to six  after the Hornets peeled off a 10-2 run that started late in the third period. That shot was a back-breaker. Without that shot, New Orleans grows more confident that it can steal one on the road.

• As much as Westbrook struggled tonight, you have to be impressed with the back-to-back shots he made immediately after checking back in with 9:07 remaining. The Hornets got within two on two occasions and Westbrook bumped the lead back to four both times.

• The Hornets started 1-of-9 and it looked like the Pistons game all over again. Then New Orleans made its next six shots.

• There was some very interesting dialogue just before the end of the first quarter horn between Durant, Brooks and Reggie Jackson. As the Hornets attempted a free throw, Brooks called in a play to Jackson. The rookie then attempted to relay that play to Durant. But KD quickly came off the free throw line and tried to waive off Brooks. He had another idea in mind. When the Thunder got the ball, Jackson ended up getting a wide open wing jumper at the buzzer off a feed from KD. I asked KD about that sequence after the game. “I told coach we didn’t want to run the play that we ran to get Reggie an open shot. He kind of (overrode) what I wanted to do, but it worked. We always talk about stuff like that and bounce ideas off each other. He called a better play than I did.”

• Durant’s hustle tonight might have been the best it’s been all season impressive tonight. He blocked three shots, came up with two steals, dove on the floor for loose balls and never gave up on plays. “I felt the energy was down,” Durant said. “That’s something that we don’t normally have around here, so I just tried to make some plays and be an all-around player.”

• I thought Jackson played well in his 12 minutes. He didn’t do anything that was overly impressive, but he looked much more comfortable and appears to be settling into his role with the second unit. I’ve noted that in the last few games he hasn’t looked like his customary confident self. Tonight, it was back.

• A small segment of fans seated directly behind the Thunder’s bench appreciated Jackson’s impact, too. They gave him a nice round of applause when he checked out of the game with 7:31 left in the second period.

• I’ve said this since dude came into the league, but I just can’t get over how much Al-Farouq Aminu looks like Dwight Howard’s baby brother.

• The streak is over! The streak is over! The Thunder held a team to less than 10 offensive rebounds. Prior to tonight, OKC had allowed at least 10 offensive boards in every game this season.

• I don’t think I’ve ever said this. But I love the cross-court skip pass. I absolutely love it. It’s dangerous but it’s deadly. I remember being taught in high school that that pass was one of the worst you could make. But the Thunder makes it look nice. Guess, that’s why they’re pros.

• There was a halftime show that I had never seen before. It was a male and female duo that called themselves “Bounce.” I felt like booing them off the court when they came out. Midway through, I actually warmed up to them. By the time they jumped rope while simultaneously bouncing balls on their heads, they had earned my respect.

• The Thunder finished with 19 fast break points. OKC had 15 through three quarters. Against the Pistons, the Thunder had 15 at the end of the first quarter.

• New Orleans went 20 of 21 from the foul line. Jack and Carl Landry combined to go 18-for-18.

• Landry takes FOREVER on his foul shots. I timed him twice tonight. The first time, he clocked in at 9.9 seconds. And that was not an accurate time because I fumbled with my phone for a second while trying to reset the stopwatch. The second time I clocked him, he came in at 10.2 seconds.

• Up next. At Golden State on Friday.

-DM-

• I don’t know about you, but I knew this game was going to be a blowout when Russell Westbrook shredded the Piston’s defense and threw down a tomahawk dunk to make it 6-2.

• I was convinced when Westbrook threaded the needled with an on-the-run, behind-the-back pass to Kevin Durant to make it 8-2.

• Not very often two Top 10-worth plays by the same team are turned in within the first 2 1/2 minutes of a game. Westbrook did just that.

• Westbrook on his two early highlights: “I just tried to keep the excitement in the game. I just tried to keep the fans involved and keep my teammates involved as well.”

• If you ask me, this was by far Serge Ibaka’s best game of the season. He started off providing weak side defense at the rim and his presence was a big part of the Thunder shutting down the Pistons’ attack early. Ibaka then rebounded like a mad man. Only thing he didn’t do tonight was knock down shots, which (I may be in the minority on this) you can live with when he has nights like this. Ibaka finished with a game-high 10 boards and a season-high tying five blocks.

• In his last three games, Ibaka has now pulled down 29 boards and blocked 12 shots. Said Westbrook: “He’s back to protecting the paint and rebounding. In the last five or six games, he’s gotten people scared to come in the paint. I’d be scared if I was them, too.”

• Thunder coach Scott Brooks started Kendrick Perkins on Greg Monroe and Ibaka on Ben Wallace. I wasn’t sure about that one at first because of Monroe’s athleticism. But it was a brilliant matchup. Perk’s superior man defense limited Monroe’s effectiveness, and with Ibaka on a non-factor offensively in Wallace he was allowed to roam and provide that great weak side help. Well done by Brooks.

• Worst part of this game was Nick Collison not returning after halftime due to a sprained left ankle. He’s listed as day-to-day. A shame, really, because you never want to see bad things like an injury happen in a blowout.

• Detroit made its first shot. The Pistons then missed 15 of their final 17 in the opening period.

• Westbrook’s post-up game looked much better tonight. I’m nowhere near ready to say that it’s a good option yet, largely because he abused a rookie in Brandon Knight. But the first move Russ hit Knight with, a Dream shake-like fake that led to a smooth jumper was jaw-dropping no matter who it was scored against. It was by far the most impressive move we’ve seen out of Westbrook in the post. Give me more of that regularly and I can live with Westbrook on the block.

• KD missed the Dirk twice tonight. He’s like 0 for his last four on the Dirk…and I’m still not sure he’s hit one at home.

• The Thunder scored 15 of its 19 fast break points in the first quarter. There have been entire games this season in which the Thunder hasn’t had 15 fast break points.

• How sweet is home for James Harden? He scored his 18th points with 4:52 remaining in the second quarter. That total was more than his point production in any one game on the Thunder’s recent three-game road trip. Harden finished with 24, two shy of his career-high, on 8-for-11 shooting.

• Thanks to Harden coming back to earth, the Thunder finally made some 3-pointers. OKC was 7-for-16 tonight, and Harden was 5-for-6. In the previous two games, the Thunder was 8-for-26 from deep.
  
• I don’t know what was said or done, but Perk picked up what looked like a silly technical foul tonight. It’s his sixth of the season. Remember, you get suspended for a game after 13. Bad decision by Perk.

• Someone had to remind me of this after the game. But in my weekly chat, a reader said it was nice to see Perk slow down on the techs. My response: “Way to jinx it. he’s now guaranteed to get one tonight.”

• Barry Sanders Sr. and Jr. were both at this ballgame. I could be wrong, but I don’t think they were sitting together. Odd.

• Although it was a blowout at this point, Thabo Sefoloshahad the play of game. When he didn’t give up on a 3-on-1 Pistons fast break on the last possession of the first half, he saved a basket by blocking Jonas Jerebko’s shot and preserving the Thunder’s 27-point lead. A side benefit to that play was that it ensured the Pistons’ 33 points would set a new opponent low for points in any half.

• Brooks on Thabo’s block: “Nothing Thabo does surprises me anymore. NBA players usually don’t stop a 3-on-1 break. That’s just Thabo’s will and his determination to play every possession every second while he’s on the floor.”

• Hustle aside, Sefolosha’s rejection on Tayshaun Prince on the previous Pistons possession was a much better block. Sefolosha came flying out of nowhere and stuffed Prince when he thought he had a clear deuce. The best part? The Thunder’s lead was so large at the time (29 points) that the crowd had began sitting on its hands. That meant it was quiet enough inside the arena to actually hear Sefolosha’s palm slap the ball. Not often you hear that, even on Ibaka’s big blocks.

• Durant had a play early in the third quarter that I’m not sure anyone in the arena fully appreciated. If you’re one of the ones who didn’t, you’ve become spoiled to how good the guy is and how amazing his development has been. It came at the 10-minute mark of the quarter. KD had a fast break opportunity. He had four options: 1) Pull up, 2) put his head down and barrel to the basket, 3) pass to a teammate, or 4) pull it out and wait for his troops. Two years ago, Durant would have opted for option two and lost the ball on his way to the rim. Last year, and heck, even at times this year, Durant would have pulled up and tried the trey. But Durant slowed up, read the defense and methodically knifed his way into the paint, where he drew the defense before whipping a pass to Ibaka for an easy dunk. It was a big-league play by a big-time player. I can only hope the fans didn’t take that for granted. While everyone seemingly wants to crown Durant as the game’s best player, it’s plays like that that Durant has had to learn how to make that is getting him closer to being able to lay claim to that title.

• Westbrook doesn’t back down from ANYBODY. Late in the third quarter, Westbrook was subtly jawing at Ben Wallace. Not even Ron Artest wanted them problems!

• I’m ready for Cole Aldrich to play. Nothing against Nazr Mohammed (OK, maybe a little something), but Aldrich looks ready for a larger role. I mean, how much better is he really going to get in practice. My gut says the backup center job belongs to Aldrich next season when Naz’s contract expires. But if I’m Brooks, why wait? Mohammed hasn’t been as consistent this year, and Aldrich seems to have an impact rebounding and on defense every time he gets minutes. I’d make the move.

• Cameras for Durant’s movie were here tonight. They’ll be back Wednesday. I was told that whatever filming was done tonight was just crowd reaction. But for the most part, the crew was getting a feel for the arena for tomorrow’s shoot, when the real filming will be done and the extras will be used to get most of the B-roll.

• Up next. The Hornets on Wednesday.

-DM-

4: Missed free throws by Kevin Durant. He was 2-of-6 on the night. In his previous six games, Durant had made 46 of 48 from the stripe.

5: Blocked shots by Serge Ibaka, a season-high. Ibaka helped the Thunder record 10 blocked shots, the third time this season that the Thunder has had at least 10 swats. Ibaka also had nine rebounds, giving him 19 boards in the past two games. Ibaka had pulled down only 19 rebounds in his previous four games prior to the last two.

8: Rebounds by guard Thabo Sefolosha, a season-high.

9: Rebounds by James Harden, a career-high. Harden also scored 16 points on 5-for-9 shooting, salvaging something of the three-game road trip. In the first two games, Harden averaged just nine points on 31.2 percent shooting.

12: Turnovers by Durant in his last two games. KD had five against the Nets after seven at Washington.

13: Percent shooting from 3-point range by New Jersey. The Nets were just 3-for-23.

14: Points scored by Nets guard Deron Williams on 5-for-18 shooting. Williams missed all six of his 3-point attempts and had six assists and three turnovers in 39 minutes.

16: Offensive rebounds by the Nets. Oklahoma City out-rebounded New Jersey 55-46 but got beat by two on the offensive end. The Nets’ total on the offensive end raised the Thunder’s league-worst opponent offensive rebounds to 13.5 per game.

17: Biggest lead by the Thunder. OKC led for good after taking a 13-12 lead with 4:49 left in the opening period.

19: Turnovers by the Thunder. The Nets scored only 10 points off those giveaways. But OKC had just 13 assists. It was the sixth time the Thunder has finished a game with more turnovers than assists.

22: Points off turnovers for the Thunder. OKC had 18 points on 12 Nets turnovers by halftime alone.

31: Percent shooting by New Jersey, an opponent low for the Thunder.

35: Halftime points by the Nets, an opponent low for any half this season by the Thunder.

74: Points scored by the Nets, an opponent low for the Thunder this season. In the previous game, the Thunder allowed Washington to score 105 points, which set an opponent season high.

84: Points scored by the Thunder, a season-low. The previous low by OKC was 87 at Dallas on Jan. 2.

-DM-

• There was a TON of Thunder fans in the building tonight. I mean a ton!! I remember coming here two years ago and being shocked at how many fans were cheering for the Thunder. You’d have to times that reception by 35 to get a feel for what took place tonight. I asked my Twitter followers about two hours before the game who was coming to this one. I only got a handful of responses. But the reason I asked was because I figured it would be like this.

• Thunder jerseys, hats and sweatshirts were everywhere. I even say two fans with a sign that read “Fear The Beard.”  Fans even cheered each and every Thunder starter when he was announced during pre-game introductions.

• Kevin Durant, who got an M-V-P chant from at least one fan late in the game, on the reception: “It feels good. We came a long way. I remember my first year when we played in Oklahoma, we played these guys here and it wasn’t hardly anybody in the stands. So a lot of people coming to support us makes us feel good. I’m excited that people are starting to like us and are starting to like us and come out to see us play.”

• The game itself wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was pretty darn ugly. But unlike three nights earlier at Washington, I’m sure ugly is fine for everybody who bleeds Thunder blue when OKC comes out on top.

• Thunder coach Scott Brooks rated tonight as one of his team’s best defensive performances. Hard to argue with that. OKC held the Nets to opponent lows of 31 percent shooting and 74 total points. The Nets came in leading the league with 26 average 3-point attempts. Against the Thunder, they went 3-for-23.

• The only rebuttal one could possible give Brooks is the Nets are absolutely brutal.

• You could tell the Thunder made it a point to defend the 3-point shot tonight. On three occasions, a Thunder player fouled a Nets shooter while contesting a 3. Reggie Jackson gave up a four-point play when he hacked Anthony Morrow on a last-second attempt in the first quarter. Russell Westbrook closed out too strong on Deron Williams in the third quarter. And Durant fouled DeShawn Stevenson behind the arc in the fourth quarter.

• I wrote a few games back about how everyone being in Jackson’s ear could have a negative short-term impact. We’re officially seeing it. Jackson hesitated on shots in the first and second quarter and is clearly over-thinking at this point. He now looks unsure of himself and too determined to do the right thing instead of playing naturally. It’s obvious that he has some natural scoring ability, but now that he’s been forced to play a certain style he’s looking lost out there at times.

• This was not one of the Thunder’s better nights offensively. And I’m not even talking about the season-low 84 points. That would be acceptable if it was a rhythmic game with ball movement and crisp sets. But the Thunder didn’t just miss shots tonight. OKC made it hard on itself at times with one-on-one play and poor ball security. In the end, this was the second straight night and sixth time this season that the Thunder finished with more turnovers (19) than assists (13).

• Durant had 20 points on 22 shots. Westbrook had 21 points on 21 shots.

• The saving grace for the Thunder offensively was scoring off turnovers. OKC had 22 points on 18 Nets turnovers. By halftime, the Thunder had 18 points on 12 Nets giveaways.

• No Jay-Z tonight. More importantly, no Beyonce.

• MarShon Brooks knows how to put the ball in the basket.

• MarShon Brooks was 4-for-6 in the first quarter and 2-for-11 the rest of the game.

• Deron Williams had 14 points on 5-for-18 shooting. He missed all six of his 3-point attempts. Combined, Brooks, Williams and Anthony Morrow scored 34 points on 13 of 48 shooting, going 1-for-14 from 3 with eight assists and seven turnovers. When put like that, it’s amazing the Thunder won by just 10.

• The Thunder won the rebounding game 55-46 but still gave up 16 offensive rebounds. It bumped the Thunder’s league-worst opponent offensive rebounding numbers to 13.5 per game. Once again, Thunder players were trying to use their length and athleticism to corral boards instead of boxing out.

• Thabo Sefolosha had a season-high nine boards. Durant pulled down a season-high 15 boards.

• Said Durant when asked about his rebounding: “That’s something that coach wants me to do. He said I can get 10 a game, so I’m just going to try to go out there and get 10 and play as hard as I can on both ends of the floor. I think if I help the bigs out it’ll make it much easier for us to push the ball and get easy points on the other end.”

• I totally forgot P.J. Carlesimo coached in New Jersey under Avery Johnson. It took me until the end of the first quarter, when I saw P.J. in the coach’s huddle, to realize it.

• Kris Humphries can play. It’s a shame he’s known more for that other thing.

• Serge Ibaka was a man possessed tonight. He blocked five shots and grabbed nine rebounds. His two most impressive rejections came on D-Will and Brooks. First, D-Will challenged Ibaka, I guess looking for a highlight dunk. Ibaka wasn’t having it. He stuffed it with a beautifully-timed block and then gave him the finger wag. Then, as Ibaka and Brooks were neck and neck on a fast break, Ibaka purposely let Brooks go by him just so he could beat that garbage up.

• Brooks trotted KD out there at the 4 for a time tonight. The Thunder was able to get away with it defensively because Durant was guarding our old friend Johan Petro.

• There were some questions about why tonight’s game was an 8 o’clock start. The New Jersey Devils had a game at 1 p.m.

• The Nets’ 35 points were an opponent low for any half this season by the Thunder.

• I can’t express to you how happy I am that the refs are no longer (for the most part) letting offensive players initiate contact by jumping into an oncoming defender. Mehmet Okur and Westbrook both tried that move in the first half. Both were rebuffed by the officials.

• Tony Brothers. Remember him? He actually helped you out tonight, Thunder heads. The Nets scored the opening basket on a dunk by Humphries that was clearly thrown down after the shot clock had expired. But the basket was not ruled late. When the Thunder took the ball down court, Brothers got referee Greg Willard’s attention and told him he could review that. Willard consented and gave the review sign to the scorer’s table. At the next timeout, the refs gathered at the monitor and overturned it. The decision made it 54-37, Thunder.

• Another thing I loved by the officials tonight. When Westbrook got whistled for a tech late in the fourth quarter for arguing what he thought was a no-call on a drive, Leroy Richardson waited until the Nets missed a shot so he didn’t interrupt their fast break.

• What’s with all the ref love from me tonight?

• James Harden salvaged something of this three game trip by scoring 19 points on 5-for-9 shooting. In the first two games of this three-game trip, Harden averaged just nine points on 5-for-16 shooting (31.2 percent). Tonight, he added a career-high nine boards and had two assists.

• Is it me or did Westbrook and Nick Collison look like they had some chemistry tonight? Could that be developing? Westbrook hit Collison with a sweeter than sweet pass on one first half pick-and-roll.

• New Jersey’s scoring by quarter through the first three: 18, 17, 16. I was so hoping for a 15-point Nets fourth.

• Before the game, I got Durant’s reaction to Westbrook’s extension. “He deserves every penny of it,” Durant said.

• KD missed four foul shots tonight. He was 46 of 48 in his previous six games.

• Up next. At home against Detroit on Monday.

-DM-

NBA on TNT crew of Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.

On Monday night on TNT, the Thunder beat the Boston Celtics for the third straight year inside TD Garden. For more than two hours, the telecast crew of Kevin Harlan, Mike Fratello, Chris Webber and David Aldridge heaped praise upon the Thunder, which has the NBA’s best record at 12-2 after its 97-88 victory at Boston. But when TNT joined its studio crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal outside Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Thunder quickly played second fiddle again.

Johnson asked the panel to pick a series winner between the Los Angeles Lakers and Thunder right now and all three without hesitation picked LA. The Lakers are too big and Kobe Bryant is simply too good for OKC to win.

LA then went out and nipped Dallas 73-70 on a 3-pointer from Derek Fisher with 3.1 seconds left. The Lakers scored seven total points in the third quarter, shot 38.2 percent from the field, shot 10 percent from 3-point range (1 for 10) and Bryant went 7 for 22 from the field and finished with 14 points.

Some excerpts from the TNT experts:

Webber on Thunder forward Serge Ibaka: “He is athletic, smart defensively. He’s a great shot blocker and a great inside presence.”

Fratello on Thunder head coach Scott Brooks: “He really knows his players and he knows which guys to let grow and develop and which ones he can get on a little bit harder.  He wants players to grow and experience this learning process and by the way, they’re winning a lot of games in this process.”

Webber on Thunder sixth man James Harden: “The best teams that I played against had role players that were superstars.  They took their role seriously and they knew the importance of their role to the team.  (Harden) has embraced his role (as sixth man) and has made sure that the bench is better for that.”

Smith on point guards Rajon Rondo of the Celtics and OKC’s Russell Westbrook: ”They are the only two teams that have guards, besides (Chicago’s) Derrick Rose, that consistently get into the paint.”

Fratello on Thunder forward Kevin Durant: “He is a very unselfish player.  He has the God-given ability to score the basketball whenever he wants to. He understands the team aspect of the game and is a willing passer.”

Barkley’s predictions on the best teams in the Western Conference: “The Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets are the two best teams I have seen in the West.”

O’Neal on the Thunder being 12-2: “They’ve had an easy schedule.”

As you can see from ESPNstats, the Thunder ranks No. 1 in the NBA in RPI and No. 8 in strength of schedule. O’Neal is partically right in that OKC often has played teams not at full strength such as San Antonio (no Manu Ginobili), New York (Carmelo Anthony), Memphis (Zach Randolph, Darrell Arthur) and New Orleans (Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza), but other teams also have enjoyed the same benefit. In addition, the Thunder also swept its back-to-back-to-back, won five games in six days and is on a seven-game winning streak.