The Thunder started the 6 game road trip off with style, as Kevin Durant scored a career-high 52 points in an over-time thriller against the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas. The Thunder went on the win the game 117-114, after Durant nailed a clutch mid-range jumper in give the Thunder a 116-114 lead and set his new career-high by one point.
Then the Thunder went on to Denver to face the team they blew out by 20 points just the week before, and a team that was very good at home posing a 15-3 record at the time in the Nuggets. Despite Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant combining for 73 points, they also combined for 17/46 shooting and 12 turn overs, most of which came from a sloppy fourth quarter. But none of that mattered as the Nuggets threw an 8 point lead mid way threw the fourth quarter, and allowed the Thunder to will themselves back into the game only to lose 118-121 in OT.
After a disappointing loss in Denver, the Thunder's second consecutive over-time game on the road, the Thunder moved on to LA the face the Clippers who were right behind the Thunder's record of 33-9 and were battling for the best record in the West. After a shootout in the first half, The Thunder used a huge third quarter to propel themselves into a 17 point lead in the fourth, and go on the win the game 107-97.
The Thunder continued their inconsistent and sloppy road performances in Oakland against the Warriors. (mostly by Russell Westbrook) who shot 37% (47-127) and turned the ball over a total of 30 times compared to just 22 assist(first four games) but he got bailed out on this stat, because he racked up 14 against the Kings, and 11 against the loss in LA to the Lakers. Russell's poorest play has came on the road, and regardless of how well Kevin Durant players, If Westbrook isn't efficient in his scoring, the Thunder struggle.
So back to the Warriors game - The Thunder lost 99-104 after a terrible 3/16 performance by Russell Westbrook who turned the ball over 6 times compared to just 4 turn overs, and was absolutely destroyed by Stephen Curry (who isn't an all star averaging 21-6-4 and shooting 90% from the free throw line and is top-5 in the league in 3-point shooting, shooting 45%), who scored 31 points and racked up 7 assists and 3 rebounds in the contest. David Lee destroyed Ibaka inside scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds (4 offensive) compared to Ibaka's 12 points and 5 total rebounds.
After Westbrook's poor performance against the Warriors, he came out extremely hot against the Kings, and seemed to be able to read the defense a lot better as he dished 14 assists and finished with 18 points on 7-18 shooting. They Thunder started off the first quarter slow, turning the ball over 5 times, but with Russell running the offense the way he was, the Thunder are virtually unstoppable on offense. Kevin Durant posted another double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds, and was his lowest-scoring game of the road trip.
The most recent game was a disappointing loss in LA as the Thunder fell the the Lakers in another bad fourth quarter performance, and a rare and shameful performance by Russell Westbrook as he shot just 2-12 in the first half of the game, and allowed the Lakers to stick around for longer than they should have. Even though he dished out 9 assists in the same half, he continued his poor shooting performance in the second half and only dished out 3 assists. Turn overs and awful shooting have plagued the Thunder in close late-game situations and they finished their 6 game road streak 3-3 because of it.
The Thunder have a big game coming up against the Grizzlies Thursday at home. The Grizzlies beat the Thunder back in early November 107-97 after a dominate performance by the Grizzlie's front court that scored 20 second chance points compared to just 9 for Oklahoma City. The Thunder bigs must make a concerted effort to box out Marc Gasol and Z-Bo and prevent offensive rebounds in order to be successful against Memphis, and try to tie to season series 1-1 before moving to Memphis for the next two.
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