OKC Thunder vs. New Orleans Hornets Game Grades
Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE
The Oklahoma City Thunder looked close to perfect Friday night beating the New Orleans Hornets on the road 110-95.
The Thunder jumped out on top early doubling up New Orleans 36-18 in the first quarter. OKC led 66-37 at half time.
The Thunder shot 54.1 percent from the field in the game and made 14-of-29 threes. OKC had a season-high 31 assists as a team as well.
Here are the Game Grades:
Kevin Durant – 33 minutes, 27 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists – A+
Scott Brooks tried a new rotation in the first half with Durant taking him out earlier in the first quarter then bringing him back for the entire second quarter with the second unit. Durant was hot from the field in the game making 9-of-12 shots and 4-of-5 threes. It was nice to see him take so many threes and make a bunch because he hasn’t been doing that a lot lately.
Russell Westbrook – 28 minutes, 10 points, 12 assists, 2 rebounds – B+
Westbrook was just about the only player to struggle from the field in this game for OKC. He went 3-of-11 but made up for that with 12 dimes. He only turned the ball over twice and the improvement in assists has been great for him this season. You can only imagine how dominant he will be when his shot starts falling more often.
Serge Ibaka – 26 minutes, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks – A
Ibaka’s jumper was falling and he was shooting it very confidently last night. He made 7-of-9 field goals and did a really nice job on defense too swatting a few shots.
Kevin Martin – 27 minutes, 27 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists – A+
Martin was unbelievable off the bench last night making 6-of-11 threes for the game. He had 22 of his points in the first half which is the second time this year he scored 20 or more in the first half. He helped really shut the door on the Hornets early in this one by filling it up so quickly. This was coming off his worst game of the year two nights before against Memphis in which he scored just seven points.
Kendrick Perkins – 21 minutes, 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 block – C
Perkins was a lot more noticeable in this game than his box score shows. He was picking up full court and even remaining with the Hornets’ point guards defensively. His energy was nice but overall his impact was pretty small.
Thabo Sefolosha – 21 minutes, 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists – B
Sefolosha took six shots in the game, all threes, and made half of them. His stroke has been awesome so far this year as he is shooting 57.1 percent from beyond the arc. He continues to get a lot of open looks with the starters and while he’s shooting so well, his confidence is going up too which are all very good things.
Nick Collison – 21 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists – B
Collison didn’t do much other than setting screens and playing defense in this one. By the time he got into the game, it was already very much decided.
Eric Maynor – 14 minutes, 3 points, 2 assists – B
We’re still waiting on Maynor to give the Thunder a little more off the bench. He’s not averaging many assists and has had trouble beating his man off the dribble so far this season.
Hasheem Thabeet – 22 minutes, 3 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks – A
When Thabeet gets minutes, he fills up the stat sheet. He grabs rebounds a little better than expected and always blocks a few shots. He can’t do much when he catches it on offense and still is late on a lot of defensive rotations and is very foul prone.
Perry Jones, III – 12 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists – B
Jones looks a long way away from cracking the rotation. He’s very passive on offense and only settled for jumpers last night, two of which he made.
Reggie Jackson – 7 minutes, 2 points, 1 assist – C
Jackson didn’t have time to do much last night but did commit three fouls somehow.
Jeremy Lamb – 6 minutes, 2 points – C
Lamb is not shy shooting in garbage time. He made 1-of-4 field goals but looked good doing it. It’s easy to forget that he was a lottery pick and probably would be playing a lot more with most other teams. It would be nice to see him given more of a chance sometime down the road this season.
DeAndre Liggins – 4 minutes, 0 points – C
Liggins moves great without the ball. He’s just too small and not a good enough shooter to ever seriously have a shot at cracking the Thunder rotation.