OKC Thunder 98 — Sacramento Kings 95
With 3:06 left in the fourth period, the struggling OKC Thunder somehow found themselves trailing at home 93-86 to the basically defenseless Sacramento Kings. Up to this point in the game, Kevin Durant had been gutter wretched horrible with ten turnovers against a team which doesn’t play defense for the most part. But somehow, Durant and the Thunder finally made some plays coming down the stretch even if it was against the perennially undisciplined Kings.
With 24 seconds left–Durant made a key two which put the Thunder up 96-95. Then with 4.4 seconds left–Durant made two free throws to stake the Thunder to a 98-95 lead. Marco Belinelli air balled a corner three at the buzzer to allow OKC to escape with a win.
Durant told Fox Thunder Courtside Princess Leslie McCaslin he was terrible on the night….and he was right on the mark with the comment. Kevin Durant was indeed terrible.
Five Thunder players scored in double figures. Durant with 20, Westbrook 19, Ibaka 12, Kanter 14 and Dion Waiters with 10 on an abysmal 2-12 shooting night.
OKC turned the ball over 21 times and had but 18 assists. But evened it out by pounding the Kings on the boards 62-41. Steven Adams, of the bad hair look, is my OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game with a 12 rebound game even though Westbrook had his third triple double of the season. At least Adams has shaved the dead animal beard look which counts something with me. He has nice bone structure—kid needs a cleaner look.
OKC ‘improves’ to 12-8 with the win. The Thunder have now beaten the Kings 23 of the last 26 times they’ve played.
Six Kings scored in double figures with Rudy Gay leading the way with 20 points. Darren Collison had 16 points, and Demarcus Cousins 13 points. Two of my favorite name NBA players … Marco Belinelli and Omri Casspi had double figure nights as well.
Kings are 7-15 and headed absolutely nowhere but down…again. George Karl would be better served sitting on a porch somewhere playing a banjo and enjoying his golden years with some dignity rather than this.
OKC lost the fourth period 31-22, but somehow won a game on a night Kevin Durant was wretched except for the very end. But then–again, that’s why you never quit feeding your alpha closer. Lesson well learned Sir Russell Westbrook. Feed your alpha closer even when he sucks.
OKC in Memphis on Tuesday night.
Mike Jackson