Thunder still not best in West
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.
Thunder 97, Celtics 88
Nuggets from my notebook from Monday’s win at Boston.
- Thabo, Thabo, Thabo. My goodness. When the Thunder desperately needed a source for something, anything, good offensively, it was Thabo Sefolosha of all people who stepped up delivered. Sefolosha finished with a season-high 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting and bailed out the Thunder three times alone in the fourth quarter.
- Sefolosha scored 12 of his points in the final frame, the most by any player in the decisive fourth quarter.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks on Sefolosha: “Thabo’s just a winner. The guy just makes winning basketball plays for us all the time. We don’t ask for a lot of scoring out of him, but he made big shots…He made shots all game long.”
- As I wrote for Tuesday’s paper, if nothing else tonight illustrated how things go for a team on a roll Sefolosha’s second and final 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining did. We’re talking about a career 31.4 percent 3-point shooter who squeezed the trigger with nine seconds showing on the shot clock even though the Thunder was trying to run out the clock. It was a helluva gutsy shot, one that sealed the win and kept the Thunder’s winning streak alive.
- Sefolosha on his dagger: “I caught it and I had an open look. I had confidence in that shot. I felt like if I let it go it would go in and it did. I didn’t even think about it, really.”
- The Thunder has now won seven straight, two shy of the franchise record in the Oklahoma City era. This win bumped OKC’s league-best record to 12-2.
- The Thunder entered the fourth quarter 2-for-11 from 3-point range. What happens next? OKC goes 5-for-5 in the final five minutes. “We made big shots,” Brooks said. “Some of them were tough shots. But we knocked them down. I’m happy for that.”
- Sefolosha shot a career-low 27.5 percent from beyond the arc last season. He’s shooting 60 percent (12-for-20) from deep this season.
- The Thunder’s offense was a beautiful mess tonight. It looked like utter chaos at times. There was little ball movement. Infrequent off-the-ball action. Turnovers in bunches. And another night of imbalance. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 54 points on 18-for-38 shooting. The rest of the team combined for 43 points on 18-for-42 shooting. Take away Sefolosha’s big night and the rest of the team scored 24 points on 11-for-33 shooting.
- Brooks: “At times, it didn’t look good. But we still battled and played with a competitive spirit and gave ourselves a chance to win.”
- It wasn’t just the Thunder’s offense. This game was brutal on both sides. At one point, both teams combined for 19 assists and 27 turnovers in this slobber-knocker. Yuck!
- Much of the reason why the Thunder’s offense sputtered in this one was because James Harden wasn’t James Harden. He scored a season-low five points on just 2-for-8 shooting. He had four fouls, one assists and two turnovers. It looked like Harden of two seasons ago, only instead of eight shots he would have stopped firing at four.
- Keep an eye on Harden’s production on the road. He struggled with his shooting away from home last season, and he looks to be doing the same thus far this year. The next two doormat of opponents might be just what Harden needs.
Five Thoughts From Tuesday’s Game
Russell Westbrook had his way with the Memphis Grizzlies' defense Tuesday night.
The Thunder is right back at it tonight at New Orleans in what will be its fifth back-to-back already this season. So there’s little time to gloat or groan about anything in any one game this season. But you can spot trends developing or continuing and those things are important to remember. With that said, here are five observations I had from Tuesday’s win at Memphis.
- The Thunder’s ball movement is incredibly erratic. It was a problem last year, and it was one of the main focal points coming into this season. But things haven’t gone according to plan. Tuesday’s game at Memphis was one of the worst showings this season. The Thunder had just 14 assists, two more than its season low, and finished with 15 turnovers. It was the third time this season that the Thunder finished with more turnovers than assists. In two other games, the Thunder had one more assist and two more assists, respectively, than turnovers. Re-watch the Grizzlies game (or perhaps just watch tonight’s in New Orleans) and you’ll see why the ball the Thunder has so many struggles. Far too many possessions are filled with just one or two passes. The Thunder settles too often for isolations or idleness by ball handlers while waiting on ball screens. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies, at times, put on a ball movement clinic, passing the ball three and four times before finding an open shot. They finished with only two more assists than the Thunder, which is not at all indicative of how much better Memphis moved the ball. But this game showed why the Thunder so far is averaging only 3.5 more assists than turnovers.
- Russell Westbrook was fantastic on offense. He shook off an 0-for-13 performance in his first game at Memphis to score 30 points on 12-for-20 shooting. Westbrook had his mid-range shot falling, was attacking and finishing at the rim and, most importantly, was under control for much of the night. He added six rebounds and four assists against two turnovers to complete what was by far his most dominant performance of the young season. It was a night that reminded us all of what Westbrook is capable of when his head is screwed on straight. Defensively, though, Westbrook still hasn’t hit his stride. He struggled to defend the pick-and-roll, and his ineffectiveness allowed Mike Conley to control the flow at the other end as Conley got to the basket at will and created open shot after open shot for his teammates. The good thing is Westbrook cut down on much of his gambling defensively.
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By The Numbers: Thunder-Grizzlies
Numbers to note from Tuesday’s win at Memphis.
1: Technical foul on Kendrick Perkins, who got tangled up with Marc Gasol just before the halftime buzzer. The two were slapped with double technical fouls, and it was Perk’s fourth this season. Perk’s tech count has officially started, as 13 in this shortened season results in a suspension.
3: 3-pointers by Thabo Sefolosha on 3-for-3 shooting. Sefolosha has now made his last five 3s and is shooting 10-for-16 from deep this season. His 62.5 percent clip is the best among any Thunder player with at least 10 attempts.
4: Free throws attempted and made by Perk, who improved his foul shot rate to 82.1 percent. A career 60.7 percent foul shooter, Perk has made 23 of 28 this year. And for the second time this season, Perkins confidently kept the ball in the final seconds rather than passing to a teammate when the Grizzlies were forced to foul. And for the second time, Perk stepped to the line and dropped both free throws.
10: Points for James Harden, tying his season low. Harden struggled with his shot, going 2-for-8 in 29 minutes and never found much room to operate in his customary tw0-man game with Nick Collison. The last time Harden scored 10 points (in a 10-point win against Phoenix), he bounced back with solid 16-point, seven-rebound, three -assists, two-steals effort in a loss at Dallas.
12: Rebounding differential in favor of the Thunder. The final tally was 51-39, which went a long way in helping OKC control the game. In the first meeting, Memphis out-rebounded OKC 49-41 and had 19 offensive rebounds leading to 23 second chance points. Tuesday night, the Grizzlies had just nine second chance points.
13: Rebounds for Perk, a season high. Perk’s previous high was nine, set last Saturday at Houston.
14: Assists by the Thunder, the second lowest tally this season. Ball movement continues to be erratic for OKC, and Tuesday’s was a tell-all sign of how “sticky” the ball can get. On offense, the Thunder settled for one and two passes and dribbled the air out of the ball while waiting for ball screens and setting up isolations. As a result, the Thunder finished with more turnovers (15) than assists for the third time in the first 11 games.
16: Points scored by Rudy Gay, who made just 7-of-21 shots. Kevin Durant and Thabo Sefolosha tag-teamed to do a terrific job on Memphis’ best perimeter scorer.
22: Bench points by the Thunder. It wasn’t the second unit’s best performance, which goes back to Harden’s struggles and the lack of ball movement. The reserves combined to make just 6-of-19 shots from the field and had just five assists against four turnovers.
30: Points scored by Russell Westbrook, a season high. Westbrook atoned for his 0-for-13 shooting performance at Memphis on Dec. 28 with an impressive 12-for-20 night from the field. He carried the Thunder’s offense with pull-up jumpers and attacks on the basket, which earned him a season-high 10 free throws.
45.9: Percent shooting by both teams, the first time this season that the Thunder has tied its opponent in accuracy from the field. Oklahoma City was .001 percentage point better than Minnesota when it played the Wolves in the second game of the season.
4,518: Fewer fans at the game in Memphis on Tuesday night compared to the Grizzlies’ home opener that came against the Thunder on Dec. 28. In the first game, the Grizzlies announced a sellout crowd of 18,119. On Tuesday, the Grizzlies announced a crowd of 13,601.
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Back To Back To Back A Breeze For OKC
Kevin Durant did plenty of coaching and cheering from the bench in the Oklahoma City Thunder's three games in three nights.
So much for the Thunder’s three games in three nights being some big test of endurance and mental toughness.
Not only did the Thunder become the first team this season to sweep its back-to-back-to-back set, but Oklahoma City also won by an average margin of 10 points. The Thunder led by as many as 27 on Friday against Houston and by as many as 25 on Sunday against San Antonio.
Blowout city.
When the schedule was announced, it certainly appeared Oklahoma City got a favorable draw for its three in three. Two games were at home, and the lone road trip was a 90-minute flight to Houston. Then the Thunder pounced on injury-plagued Rockets and Spurs squads and turned the triple dip into a breeze.
In the end, the head-kickings prevented some potential headaches for Thunder coach Scott Brooks. With such large leads in two of the three games, Brooks didn’t have to worry about limiting playing time to keep his players fresh. He was able to sit his starters for the entire fourth quarter twice. And that rest resulted in a preseason-like distribution of minutes over the three-game stretch.
The Thunder’s starters averaged just 25.1 minutes in the three in three. Throw in sixth man James Harden and super sub Nick Collison and the total for the Thunder’s top seven players in minutes played rises by only 0.2 minutes.
Furthermore, no Thunder player averaged more than Kevin Durant’s 30.6 minutes. Russell Westbrook logged an even 30 a night. Here’s a look at the entire top seven’s game-by-game minutes and their three-game average.
Russell Westbrook: 25, 40, 25; 30.0
Thabo Sefolosha: 20, 17, 23; 20.0
Kevin Durant: 28, 35, 29; 30.6
Serge Ibaka: 22, 18, 22; 20.6
Kendrick Perkins: 25, 28, 20; 24.3
James Harden: 26, 31, 22; 26.3
Nick Collison: 24, 30, 22; 25.3
As you can see, only once did a player log more than 35 minutes. That came when Westbrook was both fantastic and essential in carrying the load at Houston when Durant and Harden did not have their rhythm in the first three quarters. More importantly, only four players logged at least 30 minutes — Westbrook (40), Durant (35), Harden (31) and Collison (30) all topping the 30-minute plateau in that middle game against the Rockets.
That’s the beauty of the Thunder taking care of business. Players should still be fresh as this sprintathon season stretches on. This was supposed to be one of the most grueling portions of the Thunder’s slate. But thanks to the last three workmanlike efforts, the Thunder’s biggest challenge as it plays its sixth and seventh games in a 10-day stretch on Tuesday and Wednesday at Memphis and New Orleans, respectively, should now be mental not physical.
And with the January schedule providing at least one day of rest in between each of the remaining eight games following the road tilt with New Orleans, the Thunder’s fresh legs could soon help build Oklahoma City some separation in the standings.
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Thunder 109, Rockets 94
Nuggets from my notebook from Friday’s win over Houston.
- Best part of this win? No Thunder player logged more than Kevin Durant’s 27 minutes, 55 seconds. James Harden was the only other Thunder player to play more than 25 minutes. And no starter played a single second in the final frame. That could be huge going into the next two games of this back-to-back-to-back.
- The Thunder was able to rest up because it took care of business early and, finally, didn’t mess around. OKC led by as many as 27 and never trailed after taking a 3-2 lead 1 1/2 minutes into the game.
- A 16-5 run in the first 4:32 of the second quarter put this one away. Once again, it was the bench that provided the spark. And, again, Harden led the charge. Harden scored or assisted on 11 points during the run, which put the Thunder ahead 46-25. The Rockets never got closer than 15.
- Could Harden be the Thunder’s best player at drawing free throws? I know that might sound a little far-fetched considering Durant averaged 10.2 attempts two years ago. But when you watch Harden, as soon as he starts his attack you almost know he’s going to either score or get fouled once at the rim.
- Harden finished with 23 points for the second time in as many games. But what I love most about it is the efficiency with which he scores. Harden was 8-for-11 tonight and made all five of his foul shots. He also had three assists against one turnover. Through seven games, Harden is now averaging 17.8 points on 48.7 percent shooting.
- Do you realize Harden is now second on the team in scoring? Could we again have the whole Batman and Robin thing twisted? First, we thought it was Durant and Jeff Green. Then we realized it was Durant and Russell Westbrook. Could we be wrong again? Is it Durant and Harden?
- Rockets point guard Kyle Lowry missed this one with an injured foot. Goran Dragic replaced him and was a non-factor. With Jonny Flynn moving up to serve as Dragic’s backup, the Rockets’ guards were no match for the Thunder.
- Dragic did do some damage, actually, finishing with 10 points and 11 assists without a single turnover. But, really, in the context of this blowout, how important was he? Nice player, though.
- Thabo Sefolosha returned to the lineup and his resumed his starting role. There are some who might want to blame the two-game skid on Thabo’s absence for a game and a half. I’m not in that camp. I consider it a coincidence that the Thunder won upon Sefolosha’s return. He didn’t have much of an impact tonight. The Thunder just played much better. Thabo told me after the game that he’s feeling much better.
- Nick Collison did say it was pretty important to get the rotation back. “With Thabo back, it allowed us to get our normal rotation back. It was a little bit off the last couple of games.”
- Durant bounced back from an 8-for-26 shooting performance with an extremely impressive 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting. In his previous three games, Durant shot just 37.9 percent.
- As much as it was good to see KD’s shot return, it was just as nice to see him rebounding again. After averaging seven rebounds in his first five games, Durant had pulled down a total of seven in his last two. Tonight, he had five boards in the first quarter and finished with seven.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks called this one of KD’s “best all-around games on both ends of the court.” Durant finished with three assists and just one turnover and, in the second half, just began toying with the Rockets. He made some incredibly slick passes, several of them no-look, thread-the-needle dishes. But for as pretty as they were, they were the right pass as well.
- The Thunder came into this one looking to control the boards better. For a quarter, things weren’t working out so well. The Rockets had five offensive boards in the first quarter but finished with 11 for the game. In the middle two quarters, the Rockets had just two offensive rebounds. And the boards that Houston did get weren’t much of an issue since Houston had trouble converting its second chances, finishing 4-for-7 on second-chance opportunities for 11 put-back points.
A Look At Serge Ibaka’s Shot Blocking
The Thunder needed a stop. The game and Oklahoma City’s shot at some early season momentum depended on it.
Kevin Durant had just drained a gorgeous step-back jumper over Rudy Gay as the shot clock raced to zero last Wednesday at Memphis. It gave the Thunder a four-point lead with 35.4 ticks remaining.
After 12 seconds of stellar defense on the ensuing Grizzlies possession, Serge Ibaka stepped up and saved Durant from an ill-advised gamble. When Gay got by a reaching Durant, it was Ibaka who soared in from the weak side to swat Gay’s lefty layup attempt to the fans seated in the front row.
Ibaka flexed his muscles. He walked over to the Thunder’s bench. He high-fived teammate Lazar Hayward.
“He likes to swat it to the second row and pose after,” said Thabo Sefolosha.
There was one problem. The Grizzlies got the ball back.
With 21.2 seconds left to play, the Grizzlies inbounded the ball with nine seconds still showing on the shot clock, plenty of time to cut the deficit in half or to a single point with a 3. Fortunately for the Thunder, a 3-point try by Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo rimmed out. Ibaka controlled the board and was fouled with 13.2 remaining. The Thunder went on to notch a narrow 98-95 win and move to 3-0.
That sequence, though, illustrated a troubling pattern with Ibaka’s swats — they’re going back into the other team’s hands and allowing opponents second chances.
For Ibaka, the third-year forward whose highlight-worthy rejections have led to some affectionately referring to him as I-Blocka, maintaining possession on big-time blocks is a technique that still needs to be sharpened.
“It looks good and it’s cool,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks of Ibaka’s forceful swats. “But (teams) get the ball back, usually with time on the clock.”
By The Numbers: Thunder-Blazers
Numbers to note from Tuesday’s 103-93 loss to Portland.
2: Straight losses by the Thunder after opening the season with five straight wins. The two losses have come by a combined 23 points.
4: Free throw attempts by Kevin Durant. After making just two, Durant has now converted 38 of 51, dropping his free throw percentage to 74.5 percent.
8: Assists by Russell Westbrook, a season-high. Westbrook’s previous best this season was six.
9: Rebounds by Nick Collison, the most of any Thunder player. It was the first time Collison has led the team in rebounding this season.
10: Turnovers for the Thunder, a season low. OKC’s previous season low was 11, set last week at Memphis.
14: Bench points by the Thunder.
15: More free throws attempted by the Blazers. Portland shot 36 foul shots. Oklahoma City shot 21.
17:35: Minutes played by Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, who led the team with a career-high 41:24 one night earlier at Dallas.
23: Points by guard James Harden, a team high. Harden finished three shy of tying his career high as he started for the first time this season in place of an ill Thabo Sefolosha.
30: Points by Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge, a game high. Aldridge made 10 of 19 shots and 10 of 12 from the line.
30.7: Percent shooting by Durant, who scored 19 points on 8-for-26 shooting. In his past three games, Durant is shooting just 37.9 percent from the floor.
34.2: Percent shooting by the Thunder in the second half.
40: Points scored by the Thunder in the second half, a season low.
103: Points scored by the Blazers. This was the fourth time in seven games that the Thunder has allowed at least 100 points.
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Blazers 103, Thunder 93
Nuggets from my notebook from Tuesday’s loss to Portland.
- Russell Westbrook and James Harden set the tone defensively from the start. Westbrook picked up his man full court, and both Westbrook and Harden supplied great ball pressure and were pests in the passing lanes. They gave Raymond Felton and Wes Matthews fits and disrupted the Blazers’ offense with their energy. The first half energy as a whole was a total 180 from the effort what we saw in Dallas.
- That tenacious defense didn’t last. More on that in a bit.
- Harden got the start tonight only because Thabo Sefolosha was out with what the team called flu-like symptoms. I’m in no position to question the injury report. And I’m certainly not implying anything here. But Sefolosha seemed much more concerned about his foot after Monday’s game at Dallas than his symptoms. Sefolosha stayed home tonight to deal with whatever it was that was bothering him.
- Harden was by far the best player on the court tonight for the Thunder. His aggressiveness attacking offensively put pressure on Portland’s defense, and the Blazers had no answer for it. Harden scored 23, three shy of tying his career high, and had six assists and four boards in 40 minutes.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks was asked after the game if this game was a test run for Harden starting down the line. Brooks seemed to take offense to the question. Here’s his response in its entirety. “I like what Thabo does for our team,” Brooks said. “I know that is a topic at times. James is a good player. Thabo is a good player. But there’s not a controversy on who starts and who doesn’t start. It’s how we play as a group. It’s how each guy performs and does his job and performs their role. James is a terrific player. He has a great sense about himself and he understands his role, and Thabo is the same way. Thabo’s one of the best defenders in the league. It’s unfortunate that a lot of people don’t look at that. They look at ‘Well, he scores six points a game.’ But that’s not what we need him for.”
- Awful, awful shooting night for Kevin Durant. He scored 19 on 8-for-26 shooting. Portland’s second half defense was great at denying Durant lanes to the basket. But the Thunder’s offense didn’t do KD any favors to help him get going in the first half. That might sound flat out wrong considering KD was 2-for-9 in the first quarter (as many shots as the rest of the starting lineup combined) and had 13 attempts by halftime. But very few of Durant’s looks seemed to come in any sort of flow.
- With Gerald Wallace hounding him, and four sets of eyes backing up Wallace’s physical D, KD reverted to settling for jump shots. It was a disturbing sight, one I thought we were past. Durant probably wouldn’t admit it, but he looked frustrated. Even when he did force his way to the rim, he appeared more interested in looking for fouls instead of ways to finish. Each of those times, he shot stares at the refs and threw his hands up. When that started happening, you could see him headed for 8-for-26.
- Midway through the third quarter, Harden had 18 points on six shots. KD had 11 points on 16.
- Westbrook had a season-high eight assists, two more than his previous high. And I loved the way he was setting up teammates. In the first quarter alone, Westbrook created wide open jumpers for Nick Collison, Serge Ibaka and Harden with his probing. He was looking for teammates the same way throughout the rest of the game and showed some solid play-making ability.
Mavs 100, Thunder 87
Nuggets from my notebook from Monday’s 100-87 loss at Dallas.
- What? Did you think the Thunder was going to go 66-0?
- I said before the game that this would be a tough one for the Thunder. The Mavs were desperate and they played like it. Add to that, Dallas’ experience has had a way of giving the Thunder fits. Those two things played a big part in the outcome tonight.
- Having said that, the Thunder should be kicking itself. OKC had a chance to keep its momentum rolling and get out of here with a win. But the boys in blue made one mental mistake after another and played its worst game of the young season.
- Those mistakes were most glaring on the defensive end. The Thunder fell for pump fakes, had poor closeouts, struggled to rebound the ball defensively and occasionally forgot the term help defense. As a result, the Mavs became the first team to shoot more than 45 percent against the Thunder, converting 48.8 and leading by as many as 16 before cruising to victory.
- I never thought the Mavs’ reserves would outscore the Thunder’s 47-25. Last year, these two benches had a nice battle. This year, with Dallas having so much turnover in that second unit, it was the biggest shocker of the night. Vince Carter was aggressive, Lamar Odom showed he has a pulse, Jason Terry was his usual disruptive self and Ian Mahinmi was, at times, a monster. For the Thunder, James Harden and Eric Maynor did all the scoring, which is so out of character for OKC. It’s only five games, but clearly the Thunder needs its bench to play well to win.
- Don’t get too bent out of shape about this one. It’s only one game — and it’s the first of seven in 10 days. We could look up nine days from now and see the Thunder atop the standings at 11-1. This one would then be a distant memory.
- Kevin Durant put this loss, like so many others, squarely on his shoulders. “We didn’t have any energy from the beginning,” said Durant. “It starts with me. I got to be better on both ends.”
- This one was NOT solely on KD. But he didn’t have a good night. He started 1-for-5 offensively and looked lazy on defense. He pulled down just two rebounds and didn’t register an assist for the first time this season while turning it over three times.
- It’s amazing KD can play so poorly and finish with a game-high 27 points.
