Sunday, January 13, 2013

Postgame 37: Blazing the Trail

Thunder Wins, 87-83

Players of the Night
Oklahoma City- Kevin Durant (33 Pts, 4 Reb, 6 Ast, 2 Blk)
Portland- LaMarcus Aldridge (33 Pts, 11 Reb, 2 Blk




Bubble gum and rubber bands. 

That was about all that was holding the Thunder together tonight on their trip to Portland, the front game of a back-to-back. Serge Ibaka was out with a chest contusion, aka chest bruise, and Thabo Sefolosha was out with a sore neck. With the Thunder's two best defenders and two of the better scoring options for Oklahoma City out tonight, no one would have blamed the Thunder if they did either of two things: 1) let Portland go for 100+ points, and 2) Let Portland win. 

83 Points?!? Two quarters under 20 points?!?

Yup. OKC continues to amaze. 

With the help of some bench players playing extended minutes, great efforts by the likes of Nick Collison and DeAndre Liggins, and with a tad bit of luck, Oklahoma City prevailed in a game that surely seemed destined to slip through their fingers. Kevin Durant led the team with 33 points, dominating like always when the Thunder needed him the most. However, it wasn't just luck and KD that got the Thunder through this game tonight. 

Two of the biggest stars for Portland, Nicolas Batum and Damien Lillard, scored only 30 points on 31 shot attempts. The Trail Blazers could not plug the whole in the middle even with the likes of Serge Ibaka missing. Oklahoma City scored a total of 46 points in the paint. As a team, Portland shot horrendously from the field and even worse from the arc. The bench was much, much worse for the game, scoring only 6 points all together and earning the moniker of the league's worst bench. As much as the Thunder did, the Trail Blazers essentially packaged this win and tied it with a bright red ribbon. 

Many different players got playing time tonight, especially Perry Jones. Even though Jones still looks quite lost defensively, a dunk in the first half on an alley-op from Liggins showed us all how explosive he really can be. 

Lock down defense towards the end and some clutch shots sewed it up. Defense wins games. 

Stat of the Night: 3 for 3. DeAndre Liggins, in his first career start for an NBA team, went a perfect 3 for 3 from the arc tonight. 

Player of the Night: DeAndre Liggins. Kevin Durant put in his usual 30 points, but the man of the night was Liggins. Going perfect from three, scoring 11 points, and making the game-securing rebound all warrant the game ball for Liggins tonight. Good to know that the Thunder have another Sefolosha if they need him. 

(Credit: ESPN Stats and Information)

(Credit: Sam Forencich, NBA.com)

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