OKC Thunder 126 — Minnesota Timberwolves 123
With OKC’s Thunder playing its third road game in four nights and short Andre Roberson and Cam Payne, OKC found itself in a dogfight against the talented, yet still young T Wolves. But Kevin Durant once again closed the deal for OKC with two huge shots in the game’s final two minutes to secure a hard fought 126-123 road win at Minnesota on Wednesday night.
It was an entertaining game with lots of offensive highlights and not much defense, but in the end it was Durant making the big shots and getting OKC to 35-13 doing what he does best…closing.
Durant and his running mate Russell Westbrook played 87 combined minutes last night in New York, 74 combined minutes tonight, and basically put the Thunder on their backs to get these two road wins.
Durant went 27 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Westbrook went 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 15 assists, yet I think I might go with Enes Kanter as my No. 1 Star of the Game.
It was a much needed game for Kanter for was brutal last night against the Knicks. None of that residue carried over against the Wolves as Kanter had his first double, double since Christmas with a 23 point, 10 rebound game in 23 minutes.
Cam Payne had concussion like symptoms and did not play the second half. But OKC got some quality minutes from Anthony Morrow, Dion Waiters, Nick Collison, Kyle Singler, and DJ Augustin subbing for Payne.
Minnesota shot 55.6% from the field and had 31 assists. OKC shot 52.7% from the field with 23 assists. Like I wrote earlier, it was not a game dominated by stellar defense.
The T Wolves were led in scoring by Zach LaVine who went for something like 35 points on a 14-17 shooting night. Wiggins and Towns chipped in 20 and 19 respectively.
But for Minnesota it was the same story as the young Wolves tightened up during Winning Time and watched as Kevin Durant steered his team home. OKC is now 32-9 in games Kevin Durant has played this season. But I say this—those three young dudes are going to be great players if they’re nurtured properly.
A tough four game road trip for OKC with Winter Storm Jonas, plus injuries to Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, and Cam Payne to be dealt with, yet at the end of the trip OKC heads home with a 3-1 mark and a sigh of relief.
James Harden and his Houston Rockets in town Friday night at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. I still love Harden. Can’t wait.
Mike Jackson