On Twitter last night, someone said at Kevin Durant that he’s the second best player on the Thunder now. Durant’s response: “I’m cool with that!” He also tweeted, “It’s all about wins at the end of the day plus he’s my teammate I’m happy whenever he plays well! I jus wanna win thas all.”
From ESPN Stats: “There’s no shame in barely missing a triple-double, especially when you have the kind of performance Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook had in a triple-overtime win over the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday night. Westbrook’s [38] points, 15 rebounds and nine assists made him the first player to at least reach those benchmarks this season. A check of Basketball-Reference.com shows he’s one of only two guards to do that since 1990, Vince Carter being the other in 2006-07.” Read more…
Bolts
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images
BOX SCORE
With 1.5 seconds left (in regulation), it was over. Heck, with 0.3 seconds left, it still looked over. The Nets were down three and inbounded the ball to Anthony Morrow 25 feet from the bucket and he was forced to heave a contested, awkward 3 to try and tie the game.
And of course, it went in.
At the time, we didn’t know that shot would require nearly an extra hour of real time and three overtime periods to finally get this thing settled. But it did, eventually with the Thunder coming out with a 123-120 win over the Nets.
I’m going to take a quick nap and then I’ll be back to write the rest of this recap. Because I’m worn out. I can’t imagine how the boys in blue feel. Probably a little more tired than me I guess, but that was a workout.
Let’s go at this overtime by overtime. The first, New Jersey scored the first five points and I was convinced it was over. Oklahoma City looked a bit shellshocked that they were even still playing and the Nets were hitting shots. But Jeff Green hit a big jumper and then Russell Westbrook knocked in two more. The Thunder’s defense locked in and we were off to a second overtime. Read more…
Recap
vs. 
OKC Thunder (12-6, 6-2 road) at New Jersey Nets (6-12, 4-4 home)
TV: FSOK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 6:00 CT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 108.6 (10th), Nets – 104.9 (22nd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 109.2 (20th), Nets – 109.1 (21st)
Pace: Thunder – 93.1 (14th), Nets – 88.4 (30th)
View from the enemy: Nets Are Scorching
UPDATE: Kevin Durant is sitting out tonight’s game with a sore knee.
It’s a new month for the Thunder, so how about starting it off just right. The Thunder starts a stretch of games finally against some lesser opponents. But that doesn’t mean we can expect a big winning streak here. It begins with a game in New Jersey, a team that has played well at home and a group that has talent sprinkled throughout the roster. Read more…
Preview
Russell Westbrook has jumped to No. 2 in ESPN’s MVP watch: “In September, when Kevin Durant was leading Team USA to the gold at the FIBA World Championship, who’d have thought KD would be the second-best player in OKC?”
John Hollinger on Westbrook: “The irony is that the team is winning right now precisely because of Westbrook’s youthful, attack-now impatience (deftly broken down here by our Jackie MacMullan). He makes mistakes because of his aggression, but his constant push has kept opponents on their heels, especially late in games, and allowed the Thunder to overcome a surprisingly rough start from Durant. That may not be enough to earn an MVP trophy, especially when other candidates are likely to own much gaudier win totals and compare more favorably with people’s preseason expectations. But Westbrook’s ascension to superstardom has allowed Oklahoma City to weather Durant’s early shooting slump — not to mention a host of lesser ills — far better than anyone would have expected.” Read more…
Bolts
