Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Milwaukee Bucks 109-89 in the Bradley Center to capture their second win in two days.

The Thunder played the best they have on offense since their win over the Bulls eight days ago. Oklahoma City shot 48.1 percent from the field and made 8-of-20 threes.

Russell Westbrook led the way with 26 points and seven rebounds. Westbrook’s highlight of the night came at the end of the first half when he calmly hit a stepback trey over Brandon Jennings to give the Thunder a 61-47 lead at the break.

Kevin Durant played distributor tonight leading the team with eight assists to go along with his 19 points.

Thabo Sefolosha had one of his best games scoring 14 points and a career-high seven steals.

The Thunder owned the Bucks in the paint and on the glass early as the Bucks didn’t get a rebound until under six minutes to play in the first quarter. Oklahoma City had 13 offensive rebounds in the contest and Serge Ibaka helped protect the rim with five blocks for the second night in a row.

After scoring 48 points against the Thunder in a Golden State uniform earlier this season, Monta Ellis was held to just nine tonight. Ersan Ilyasova led the Bucks with 18 points but only had two rebounds.

The Thunder did whatever they wanted tonight and looked like the team they were a few weeks ago, rolling through opponents with the best record in the conference.

Milwaukee was out of sync and collected five technicals in the game with Larry Sanders being ejected after throwing an elbow at Nick Collison.

The Thunder (42-15) are off tomorrow and will return home Wednesday night to host the Los Angeles Clippers (34-22).

Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (1-game winning streak)
107.2 Offensive Efficiency (2nd)
99.8 Defensive Efficiency (9th)
95.5 Pace (6th)
57.0 True Shooting % (1st)
51.3 Rebound Rate (6th)

Bucks (1-game losing streak)
102.8 Offensive Efficiency (13th)
102.3 Defensive Efficiency (16th)
96.0 Pace (4th)
52.2 True Shooting % (19th)
48.5 Rebound Rate (26th)

The Thunder finally got back on track with a tin last night over the Toronto Raptors, snapping their three-game losing streak. Tonight it gets tougher as they travel to take on the new-look Bucks.

The Bucks have won their last four games and are just one game back of the Philadelphia 76ers for the eight seed in the Eastern Conference.

Milwaukee made headlines earlier this season trading away Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to Golden State for Monta Ellis and Ekpe Udoh. Milwaukee now has one of the more interesting backcourts in the NBA with Ellis and Brandon Jennings.

In 13 games with the Bucks so far, Ellis is averaging 16.6 points per game, down from 21.9 in his time with Golden State this season. Ellis scored 48 points against the Thunder earlier this season.

With the two smaller guards expect Russell Westbrook to again look to go into the post tonight. Westbrook scored 15 points last night and hasn’t had a big game in awhile so he might be due tonight.

Kevin Durant will have to try and figure out how to score on Carlos Delfino and Mike Dunleavy tonight. So that shouldn’t be hard.

The Bucks do have some weirdly efficient lineups this year led by one of the league’s anomalies, Ersan Ilyasova. He’s averaging around 13-9 this season but has had some huge statistical nights especially when it comes to rebounding.

This isn’t a team that the Thunder should take lightly tonight. The aggressiveness of Oklahoma City will be crucial. There’s no need to settle for jump shots when Milwaukee doesn’t exactly have a lot of rim protectors.

The Thunder haven’t been playing too well lately during their three-game losing streak and the first two and a half quarters of last night’s game. Things will have to change tonight or the Bucks are going to shock the Thunder.

Chris Humphreys-US PRESSWIRE

The biggest names this trade deadline stayed put. Dwight Howard will remain with the Orlando Magic through next season. The Lakers did not deal Pau Gasol and the Nets kept Deron Williams.

A few contenders did make some noise and one team let the world know they would begin tanking. Let’s start with the 3-team deal that broke just after 3 p.m.

Nuggets, Clippers, Wizards

Denver received JaVale McGee and Ronny Turiaf, Washington received Nene, Brian Cook and a pick and Los Angeles received Nick Young. Other players and picks might be included.

The Nuggets get rid of Nene who perennially is at the top of the league in field goal percentage. The Nuggets have had trouble finding a closer in games and Nene was one guy they could go to for offense. Now they have McGee who is basically a head case but with tons of talent. Maybe George Karl can help with that.

Nene to Washington might be a good fit over there to help John Wall out. McGee and Young were the main headcases over there and it’s definitely somewhat of a plus to get rid of them.

The Clippers have needed a shooting guard all season and they get a talented one in Young without giving away much. While he may have attitude problems you have to think Chris Paul could help with that.

Portland Trailblazers

The Blazers made it clear that they have given up on the season. Not too long ago the Blazers were the most feared team by me as a potential playoff matchup with the Thunder. Today they dealt Marcus Camby and Gerald Wallace for Hasheem Thabeet, Jonny Flynn, Shawne Williams and Mehmet Okur.

They sent Camby to the Rockets for Thabeet, Flynn and a future second-round pick. They sent Wallace to New Jersey for Williams, Okur and a top-3, protected first-round pick.

The Blazers also fired head coach Nate McMillan.

Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers addressed a few needs today and parted ways with one of the all-time Lakers greats, at least according to their fans. The Lakers sent Derek Fisher and a first-round pick (via Dallas) to Houston for Jordan Hill.

Los Angeles also sent Luke Walton, Jason Kapono and a first-round pick to Cleveland for Ramon Sessions and Christian Eyenga. The Lakers have upgraded Fisher to Sessions who is one of the more underrated point guards in the NBA. Sessions however is a player that needs the ball in his hands a lot to be productive, but nonetheless is an upgrade from Fisher.

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs will reunite with Captain Jack. San Antonio sent Richard Jefferson and a conditional first-round pick to Golden State for Stephen Jackson.

Jackson played for the Spurs from 01-03 and won the NBA title with the team in the 2002-03 season as a starter. Jackson played with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili on those teams and was very clutch during their playoff run in 2003.

Jackson was traded from Milwaukee two days ago to Golden State in the Monta Ellis deal.

Houston Rockets

The Rockets have added Camby and Fisher and a first-round pick while giving up no one in their rotation. Houston is fresh off a victory against the Thunder and beat the team with the best-record in the West two out of four times this season.

Camby paired with Samuel Dalembert will be a tough interior presence in blocking shots and rebounding on both ends. Fisher will also bring some experience and leadership. The Rockets will be a scary matchup for anyone once the playoffs role around if they can get healthy.

Greg Smith-US PRESSWIRE

New Jersey Nets

The Nets got rid of a few players that rarely play and a first-round pick to get Wallace from Portland. Wallace is a great chemistry guy who can fit in anywhere on a basketball court. Wallace looked like the key ingredient for Portland this year and last as they looked to make a playoff run.

The Nets now have Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace and Brook Lopez. This could help them land Dwight Howard in a few ways whether it be adding Wallace into a deal to try and get Howard eventually or enticing him more so to come because Williams and Wallace would be nice players around him.

Indiana Pacers

The Pacers quietly added Leandro Barbosa from the Toronto Raptors. They sent the Raptors a second-round pick and also received point guard Anthony Carter in the deal.

Indiana has been a pleasant surprise this season and could appear in the second round of the playoffs this year. Barbosa is a nice pickup for them adding depth and scoring to their backcourt. Barbosa also has been in the top 10 in isolation scoring in the NBA the past two seasons.

As expected the Oklahoma City Thunder did not make any moves during the trade deadline. There wasn’t a lot out there for them and they didn’t have much they would be willing to part ways with. San Antonio, Houston, the Clippers and the Lakers all made moves to improve and that could spell some trouble for the Thunder.

Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports broke news first of a deal between the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors. The deal would send Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown to the Bucks in exchange for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson.

This will likely dispel the rumors earlier this week involving Dwight Howard in a deal with Ellis.

The Bucks will not start a backcourt of Ellis and Brandon Jennings. We have seen how much Ellis and Stephen Curry could hurt opponents and the Ellis-Jennings pairing in Milwaukee should be pretty lethal at times.

The Warriors seemed like the really wanted to get rid of Ellis this season but I think the Bucks make out pretty good in this deal. Milwaukee is currently the eight-seed in the East and has been playing good basketball of late.

Golden State definitely wants to tank this season. If they have a top-7 pick they get to keep it, 8-30 and it goes to Utah.

If nothing else an Ellis-Jennings backcourt should be a tough matchup for a lot of teams in the East.

We’re just over 48 hours away from the NBA trade deadline. Dwight Howard still is in Orlando. It is unlikely the Oklahoma City Thunder will make any deals, although there has been some talk about a move for a backup point guard.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

James Harden’s rookie contract will be up after the 2013-14 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder of course plan to re-sign he and Serge Ibaka at this point. This could become tricky considering that in 2015 Harden will be the best shooting guard in the NBA.

This past week we saw Harden play some of the best basketball of his career with games scoring 30 then 33 points, both career-highs at the time. Right now Harden is coming off the bench averaging 17.2 points per game with a 21.4 PER. He won the Sixth Man of the Year award in the first week of the season.

In terms of PER, Harden is only behind Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and Many Ginobili as far as shooting guards are concerned. I’ve said before that Ginobili is the type of player Harden is turning into.

Three years from now those three are going to decline considerably and Harden will be all of just 25 years old. There aren’t many other shooting guards out there who are going to be challenging Harden as the best at their position in the league.

Let’s go through the contenders assuming to not count anyone who is not yet in the league since they would only have been in the league for two years anyway by 2015.

Eric Gordon, Monta Ellis, Paul George and MarShon Brooks are Harden’s competition. They all have at least an outside shot of passing Harden but it is unlikely especially considering their current playing situations.

Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

The Thunder are going to have a chance to have on their team in 2015 the best small forward in the league (Durant), a top three point guard (Westbrook) and the best shooting guard (Harden) and maybe even the best low-post defender (Ibaka). That is crazy to think about how good this team’s future looks.

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s kind of important to have a good two-guard if you’re interested in winning championships.

In the last 12 years, the best two-guard on the team that won the NBA title scored an average of 22.5 points per game, significantly higher than any other position. Having a shooting guard who can fill it up is an essential ingredient toward winning championships.

People love to salivate over the all-around small forward but having your best player be a “jack of all trades” type doesn’t seem to necessarily result in championships as much.

Since 2000, only Paul Pierce has averaged over 13.3 points per game as the starting small forward of a championship team. Usually teams that win the title have a defensive stopper as their small forward.

Kevin Durant is obviously the small forward of the future for Oklahoma City and will always be their leading scorer. The direction Durant is headed as an offensive player is (hopefully) closer to the player that Dirk Nowitzki became in the playoffs last season (back to basket scorer).

The future makeup of the Thunder is starting to remind me more and more of the Spurs of the last decade. Durant is the Tim Duncan of the team as the reliable post-up scorer. Russell Westbrook is the lightning quick point guard who is score-first like Tony Parker. And James Harden is of course the Ginobili coming off the bench.

Before I sometimes questioned the makeup of the Thunder team in terms of where they got their offense from and if it could work in winning a championship. But the more you watch them grow together and try to project their future makeup it really makes you see just how good they are going to become.

The key to all of it is going to be Harden flying under the radar and becoming the best two-guard on the planet.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

It was a highlight show in the first half for Oklahoma City as they raced ahead of the Warriors on their way to a 110-87 victory at home Friday night.

The Thunder didn’t seem too happy with the rim as they put together dunk after dunk and led 58-48 at halftime. Kevin Durant led the way with 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while Russell Westbrook added 18 points but did injure his ankle in the third quarter.

James Harden was also in his best form collecting 25 points and nailing 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Kendrick Perkins did not start or play in this one and Nazr Mohammed started in his place. Mohammed wasn’t needed to do much but might be a better finisher than Perkins in the paint. The intimidation is always missed though without Perkins and Golden State took advantage to some degree with their work on the offensive glass (22 offensive rebounds).

Cole Aldrich also got some run in Perkins’ absence and was very active but unpolished and was called for two defensive three seconds violations.

The Thunder were truly firing on all cylinders in this one and shot 52.7 percent from the floor and made 10-of-24 threes. The Thunder also had 24 assists in the game which is a very high number for them.

Monta Ellis, who scored 48 points the last time these two played, had only 11 tonight.

Oklahoma City (23-7) is off tomorrow and will host Denver (17-14) on Sunday at 8:00 P.M. EST. The game will be on ESPN.

Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (1-game losing streak)
105.4 Offensive Efficiency (3rd)
99.2 Defensive Efficiency (14th)
96.1 Pace (4th)

Warriors (1-game losing streak)
104.0 Offensive Efficiency (6th)
104.0 Defensive Efficiency (25th)
95.1 Pace (10th)

The Thunder are coming off a very tough loss two nights ago to the Houston Rockets. Oklahoma City had a chance to win the game three times in the final 30 seconds but Kevin Durant came up empty three times. The last time the Thunder played Golden State that game came down to the wire and via one of the same plays Oklahoma City ran late to try and beat Houston, Oklahoma City got a big basket from Durant to sink the Warriors. Golden State had won three straight before dropping their last game at home against Portland. In that game, Monta Ellis did not play during the fourth quarter due to an illness. The Thunder are 2-0 already against the Warriors this season.

Thunder keys to the game

1. Kevin Durant

Durant has torched the Warriors more than any other team in his career, especially at home. He has a career scoring average of 31.4 against the Warriors and that number rises to 34.3 when he’s at home against Golden State. Durant will surely want to rebound with a big game tonight following his three misses in the Thunder’s last game. He is a matchup nightmare for the Warriors, even more so than usual, and pretty much gets whatever he wants against them. He scored 37 the first time they met this season and then 33 the last time. I think it’s safe to say we can expect another big night from Durant tonight.

2. What will Monta Ellis do?

Like I mentioned before, Ellis did not play in the fourth quarter of Golden State’s last game and Nate Robinson got all of his minutes, fumbling away the game down the stretch too. Ellis was anything but sick the last time he played against Oklahoma City scoring a career-high 48 points in the loss. Ellis got off to a great start partly thanks to his matchup of Daequan Cook who has been starting in place of the injured Thabo Sefolosha. We probably won’t see another 48 from Ellis tonight but Oklahoma City should shoot to keep him in the low 20’s at least.

3. David Lee

Also in the loss the last time these teams met another big night was recorded by a Warriors player. David Lee had his second-career triple double and dissected the Thunder defense all night. Lee was in rhythm that night and the Thunder should try and focus on getting him out of that rhythm early in this one. Nick Collison usually gets a lot of minutes against the Warriors but Serge Ibaka still starts and a couple of message-blocks early should deter another big night from Lee.

Prediction: Oklahoma City wins 115-111.

Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to score 64 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder held on to beat the Golden State Warriors on the road 119-116 Tuesday night.

The individual headlines really belonged to Golden State though who got a career-high 48 points from Monta Ellis and a triple-double from David Lee.

Ellis had 40 points around halfway through the third and Westbrook did a nice job on him the rest of the game. Daequan Cook started out on Ellis still starting for the injured Thabo Sefolosha and Ellis took advantage and got into a nice rhythm early on.

Lee had six points, five assists and eight rebounds at halftime and would go on to finish with a 25-10-11 stat line.

The Thunder needed 44 and 43 minutes from Durant and Westbrook to pull this one off as the two really turned it on late in the fourth. They combined for the final eight Thunder points in the last two minutes of the game.

Durant made the biggest shot banking in an 18-footer with 14 seconds left to put the Thunder up 117-116.
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Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (1-game winning streak)
105.0 Offensive Efficiency (4th)
99.1 Defensive Efficiency (12th)
95.7 Pace (6th)

Warriors (1-game losing streak)
102.2 Offensive Efficiency (8th)
103.8 Defensive Efficiency (25th)
95.0 Pace (11th)

The Thunder are now right in the middle of their 5-game road trip and are playing at Golden State for the second time this season tonight. Kevin Durant always has big games versus the Warriors and did the first time these teams played this year with 37 points and 14 rebounds in 44 minutes. Serge Ibaka also had one of his best games of the season against the Warriors this year scoring 20 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. The Thunder overpowered the Warriors with their star power late in the game on the Jan. 27 meeting running pick-and-roll with Russell Westbrook and Durant almost exclusively down the stretch in the 120-109 victory. Expect the same thing this time around for Oklahoma City but they won’t want to play Durant 44 minutes tonight.
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