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| AP Photo/Reed Saxon |
Russell and Kevin Durant started the game off right in the first quarter. They both combined for twenty four points on 10-19 shooting, as the rest of the team took just five shots. Oklahoma City's defense was spectacular, holding the clippers to just 41% from the field and scored thirteen points off ten Clippers' turn overs.
The Honey-Badger was blowing by Chris Paul in the half court at will. He got to the rim and converted lay ups as he flew past everyone trying to defend him. The Thunder got the Clippers' bigs in foul trouble early on, and managed to score sixteen points in the paint because of it. Oklahoma City dominated the glass as well, as they pulled down five offensive rebounds and score seven second chance points in the quarter.
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| AP Photo/Reed Saxon |
Oklahoma City continued their dominance in the second quarter. Kevin Durant helped extend the Thunder's lead to as much as sixteen with his ten points and four rebounds. The Thunder's suffocating defense forced six more Clippers turn overs and scored four points off of them. Oklahoma City picked up their long range shooting in the second quarter as well. They finished the quarter 3-5 from deep and and held the Clippers to just 0-5 from downtown.
The third quarter belonged to the Clippers. They out scored Oklahoma City 32-28 in the quarter behind Chris Paul's fourteen points. The Thunder gave up nine points off five turn overs and allowed LA to score fourteen easy points in the paint. Oklahoma City out rebounded the Clippers 12-6 in the quarter, but settled for outside shots in transition, which resulted in them finishing the quarter shooting just 25%(2-8) from downtown.
LA managed to get to the line and get themselves back into the game as they went 9-11 in the quarter, seven of which belonging to Chris Paul who went 7-7 from the line. Oklahoma City missed their last three shots of the quarter and the Clippers finished the third on a 13-5 run to cut the Thunder's lead to just nine going into the fourth.
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| AP Photo/Reed Saxon |
The Clippers stormed back in the fourth quarter, going on a 14-6 run during a stretch where OKC went just 1-11 from the field. LA would take a one point lead with just 1:30 remaining in the game after a nailed three by Jordan Crawford. It looked like Oklahoma City was about to throw a nineteen point lead down the toilet after the Clippers made a seven point player after Ibaka was charged with a Flagrant 1 foul after hitting Blake Griffin below the belt.
Oklahoma City would come back though after a coast to coast drive by Westbrook to put the Thunder back up 101-100 with 1:25 remaining. Ibaka would proceed to convert a three point play after getting an and-one to give the Thunder a 104-100 lead. The Thunder would go on to win the game 108-104 after coming back with a run of their own.
Thunder Essentials:
BBB(Big Bad Bench) - C
It took K-Mart twelve shots to score ten points, going 3-12 from the field and 2-5 from downtown, but he mad a huge lay up early in the fourth during the Clipper's run to extend the Thunder's lead to five. The Thunder's bench totaled seventeen points tonight, nothing spectacular, but were able to contribute in various ways.
Come out strong - B
The Thunder came out strong indeed behind Westbrook's and Durant's combined twenty four points on 10-19 shooting, and out scored the Clippers 27-20 in the quarter. Oklahoma City used this momentum going into the second quarter and it paid off as they took a 54-41 lead going into half time.
No easy points - A
Oklahoma City held the the Clippers to just thirty four points in the paint, giving up just one lob pass for an alley-oop. LA scored fourteen second chance points, but Oklahoma City countered that with sixteen of their own. Blake Griffin finished with just twenty points in the contest, and a lot of his shots were coming from outside and were contested.
Some Thunder Thoughts:
1st Quarter: Thunder start the first quarter off once again great, their defense has been outstanding this first quarter making the Clippers shoot 7-17 from the field. Thunder had a lead as high as (13)-(4) in the first quarter. Thunder has been struggling the past two games from the free throw line, this game Thunder is shooting (4)-(10) from the free throw line when they're the best free throw shooting team in the NBA. Regardless of the free throw shooting, the Thunder's defense and offense stepped it up and took the 1st quarter lead (27)-(20).
2nd Quarter: Thunder keep up their great game, stopping Chris Paul from being a threat on offense making him go 1-7 from the field in the first half and only 4 points. The two man team Kevin Durant and Russel Westbrook had a total of 13-25 from the field with 37 points, where Chris Paul and Blake Griffin only had 6-14 from the field with 14 points. Thunder defense has really been outstanding this game, even causing the Clippers to have a season high of 16 turnovers in the first half, where they average around 14.5 turnovers in the whole game. Thunder are trying to make an example of why they're one of the best teams in the western conference leading the 2nd quarter (27)-(21) and to take the first half (54)-(41).
3rd Quarter: Thunder's offense kept up their great game in the 3rd quarter but their defense seems to be slowing down, they let the Clippers score (32) points on them in the 3rd quarter which led the 3rd quarter in scoring Clippers (32) Thunder (28). Kevin Durant is having an amazing game scoring over 10 points or more in each quarter of this game so far, even though he's 8-11 from the free throw line which is surprising considering he's the best free throw shooter in the game at 91%. Thunder lead (82) to Clippers (73) going into the 4th quarter.
4th Quarter: Thunder started to slow down in the 4th quarter almost giving the clippers the win, Thunder went on a 1-11 run where the Clippers went on a 10-0 run to almost grab the win from the OKC Thunder which have been leading the game the first three quarters with a lead as high as 19 points. Thunder only lost the lead once in the 4th quarter where the Clippers were up by 1 point but Russel Westbrook said no to that and quickly scored a layup to bring the lead right back to the Thunder. They never lost the lead the rest of the game to take the win (108)-(104).
Thanks to Chris Adcox for the Thunder Thoughts. You can follow him on twitter here.
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