The Oklahoma City Thunder probably
shouldn’t have beat the Houston Rockets, but this team has the heart of a lion
and the drive of Kevin Durant. He was determined to not lose this game
tonight. Without his partner in crime, Russell Westbrook, who is out for
the rest of the playoffs after having surgery on his torn meniscus today,
Durant took his team on his back and made a statement. He is going to
will this team as far as he possible can, and he doesn’t care if that means
shooting the ball 30+ times. He really has found his inner Westbrook and
it was exactly what the Thunder needed tonight and will continue to need for
the rest of the postseason. Durant hit a huge shot to put the Thunder up
by 3 and up for good. Derek Fisher and Reggie Jackson were able to hit
clutch free throws to help close out the game and give the Thunder a 104-101
win.
Durant’s final stat line for the
night said: 41 points (tying a career postseason high), 14 rebounds, 4 assists,
2 steals, a block, and only 4 turnovers on a night he was running the points
more often than anyone else. Durant had 17 points in the 1st quarter and
when the lead got up to 26, it seemed like this would be an easy night for the
Thunder. But this is playoff basketball and the Rockets don’t quit.
They slowly but surely fought their way back into the game, even taking
the lead late in the game for the 2nd game in a row. Durant stepped up
again, just like the Thunder have seen him do so many times. He sat for
only 45 seconds this whole game, and he will probably not be able to sustain
that many minutes for the rest of the playoffs, and Coach Scott Brooks will
really need to keep an eye on him. He seemed really tired to start the
3rd quarter but he continued to fight. It has been an emotional 48 hours
for the team, especially for Durant, who has to take even more of a leadership
role, but he is ready for it. With a day to digest everything, the
Thunder should play a more even game overall on Monday night and should be able
to finish out this series.
Kevin Martin needs to show up and hit
some big time shots for the Thunder. He couldn’t do that in the 4th
quarter tonight, although he did have a big steal after one of his misses.
The Thunder is really going to need him to make up some of the points
that they are missing with Westbrook out.
Serge Ibaka was huge once again.
He has grown so much in the last year on both sides of the ball.
He had two huge plays in the 4th quarter. One was a real fancy layup that
put the Thunder back up by one. He really showed his strength there
because that was the only way he was getting to the rim. His other big
play was his defense on the last play of the game. He didn’t bite on the
pump fake from Carlos Delfino and he forced him into taking a fall away 3 that
missed and Jackson was able to get the rebound off. These two plays alone
show his improvement. He has been biting on less and less pump fakes
throughout the season and he has really gotten better at finishing at the rim.
He finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He’s been
awesome and he needs to keep it up.
Jackson had a bumpy ride in his 1st
start, but he made two clutch free throws and really played well the last five
minutes to help the Thunder bring home this win. Now that he has his 1st
game out of the way, hopefully he can calm down a bit and play much better on
Monday night. Jackson finished with 14 points and 2 rebounds. One
thing that he needs to do, and the Thunder in general need to do, is be better
at starting the offense before the shot clocks get to 10. There needs to
be more ball movement and people movement and not so much isolation. That
is something they did really well in the 1st quarter that started to go away
after that. Ball movement will be key for them.
The signing of Fisher is now very
huge for the Thunder. He played poised and like the veteran he is.
The Thunder will need his composure and his big shot ability and he
really stepped up tonight. Fisher had nine points, but they all seemed to
be at important parts of the game, including the two clutch free throws he hit.
He also played some good defense and has really quick hands. He
stripped Harden of the ball once and got another steal by reading the game and
stepping in the passing lane. He will play a big part in these playoffs
for the Thunder now.
Kendrick Perkins didn’t play much
tonight, but he did let Patrick Beverley know that the Thunder was not happy
with him. On the first possession for the Thunder, he set a hard screen
on Beverley that was called a foul. But after that, the Thunder really
seemed to move on and just played basketball. Beverley had some silly
fouls and really wasn’t a factor tonight.
Let’s not forget the great defense
Thabo Sefolosha continues to play off Harden. He could hit a couple of
more 3s because Houston is leaving him pretty wide open, but as long as he
continues to fight with Harden of the defensive end and make life extremely
hard for Harden, I really don’t care how many shots he makes. He is great
and just needs to continue his stellar defense.
Lets see what happens tonight on TNT. Tip off is
again at 8:30 p.m
