OKC Thunder 104 — Utah Jazz 98 OT
It took OKC a half to wake up and get going Sunday evening at the Chesapeake Energy Arena with the Utah Jazz in town. The Thunder scored only thirty-eight points the entire first half and found themselves trailing the Jazz by a count of 51-38. Even more stunning—Kevin Durant had but two points the entire first half.
Not sure exactly what was said in the Thunder locker room at half, but whatever it was it was effective as OKC came out blazing the second half with a 25-7 haymaker of a run to get back on top. Durant and Westbrook had twenty points combined during the run.
But to Utah’s credit they didn’t just wilt and fade away quietly into the night in an arena where they’ve had very little success over the years. Rather–Utah dug in and actually led by five points coming down the stretch.
But OKC with its alpha closer Durant made the plays it had to make to get the game to overtime. Two come to mind. The first a crosscourt pass to Serge Ibaka in the opposite corner which led to an eventual three point make after Ibaka pump faked Trevor Booker, re-established his feet behind the line, then drilled a clutch three just inside the minute mark to tie the game at 94-94. The second, a Durant two handed flush where he exposed Derrick Favors and tied the game 96-96 with 14.6 seconds remaining.
Utah had a possession left in regulation, but never got a shot as Gordon Hayward threw the ball away with a wild pass to the corner which sailed out of bounds untouched.
OKC had one second remaining, but a Durant shot from the corner barely grazed the rim as regulation expired with the score tied at 96 all.
In overtime it was all OKC as the Jazz did at this point fade away gently into the Oklahoma night. Westbrook scored two buckets to get OKC going in the extra period, then Durant scored a basket of his own. It would be all OKC would need as they outscored the Jazz 8-2 in OT to claim their fifth straight win and ninth win in their last eleven games. Hard to believe when you consider the Thunder streak started last Sunday by almost losing at home against the abysmal Sacramento Kings.
Durant led the Thunder with 31 points on Sunday evening. With all but two coming in the second half and overtime. Russell Westbrook scored 25 points and coupled those points with 11 rebounds and five assists. Durant and Westbrook are my co – No. 1 Stars of the Game.
Ibaka struggled to get shots on the night, but did have the clutch three, plus several critical blocks to stave off the Jazz around the rim during the stretch run.
Dion Waiters had 13 points, while Enes Kanter chipped in with 10 points as they were OKC’s only reliable players off OKC’s bench on this night.
Utah was led by Rodney Hood’s 23 points, Gordon Hayward’s 22 points, and Alec Burke’s 21 points.
With the win–OKC improves to 16-8 and established some solid positioning as the current No. 3 seed in the West. Utah drops to 10-12 which is about what they are at the end of the day—a borderline team of youth who have yet to discover the secret of winning games of consequence which matter in this league.
In case you hadn’t made this observation, it was former Missouri Tiger coach Quinn Synder against former Florida Gator coach Billy Donovan in this SEC East game of sorts. It’s a stretch, but I wanted to throw this in anyway.
Remarkably–coupled with Golden State’s loss at Milwaukee, and this come from behind win…OKC is now the possessor of the longest current winning streak in the league.
It appears to have been a week of self discovery for the Thunder as together with Billy Donovan–all parties seem to be getting more comfortable with each other as each game passes. But putting that aside–it was a week where Kevin Durant picked up his first year coach and had himself a week of incredible clutch closings to get the Thunder’s season finally on track. If Durant isn’t the NBA Player of the Week—then I don’t know who would be.
Portland Trailblazers in town on Wednesday night before the LeBron excursion in Cleveland on Thursday.
Mike Jackson