The Oklahoma City Thunder, up until Tuesday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings, had a perfect 2-0 record during their home stand at the Ford Center, defeating Minnesota and Toronto handily.
This game was the third and final game at home before they go on a Western road trip. While the Thunder and Kings both shot north of 50 percent, the duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook exploited the Kings’ frontcourt and backcourt as they combined for 69 points, enabling Oklahoma City to have a perfect home stand and defeating Sacramento 113-107.
The Thunder, with the stingiest defense in the league, allowed the Kings to shoot 54 percent, yet were more aggressive – both on the boards and going to the free-throw line.
Sacramento managed to rally from 10 points down to take a 29-28 lead on a Donte Greene 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second quarter. James Harden drained a 3-pointer at the end of the first period that didn’t count because he released the shot just after the horn sounded. Once the Kings lead got to 37-32, Durant and Westbrook re-entered the lineup for the Thunder and they (the team) scored the next five points to tie the game.
Durant had a pair of jams off Westbrook assists in a three-possession span as Oklahoma City built a seven-point lead, and Westbrook made it 65-58 on a running trey at the halftime horn.
Fast-forwarding to the fourth quarter, the Kings were within three when Carl Landry hit two free throws with 2:15 left to go in the game, abut Nenad Krstic lobbed the ball to Durant for the alley-oop flush at the opposite end of the court. Landry had a followup dunk which made it 111-107 with 34 seconds left, but the Kings decided not to foul and the shot clock rand all the way down before Durant missed a baseline jumper. Francisco Garcia missed a contested trey attempt in the final 5 seconds, and Durant grabbed a key rebound and sealed the win for Oklahoma City with a pair of free throws.
Durant led all Thunder scorers with 39 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal while Westbrook chipped in 30 with 5 rebounds, 13assists and a steal; Jeff Green added 15 with 5 rebounds, an assist, a steal and 2 blocks while Krstic poured in 14 with 9 rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Tyreke Evans led the Kings with 27 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals while Landry added 17 with 7 rebounds and 2 steals; Beno Udrih and Garcia chipped in 13 apiece – with Udrih grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists while Garcia made three treys, grabbed 3 boards and dished out 2 assists.
Oklahoma City (36-23) plays again on Wednesday when they travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets while Sacramento (20-40) makes the short flight to Houston to take on the Rockets – also on Wednesday night.
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