From the words of the Nuggets announcers last night: “Add Al Harrington to the list of Kevin Durant posters.”

That’s the kind of night it was for the Denver Nuggets. They just didn’t have the motivation it seemed to come out and match the Thunder’s intensity.

Oklahoma City cruised to a 103-90 win last night never breaking stride along the way.

Durant led the way scoring 24 points. He made all four of his shots at the rim and went 2-for-2 from 16-to-23 feet. Durant’s only blemish was making just 1-of-5 treys.

Russell Westbrook didn’t have his cleanest night with seven turnovers but had nice touch from deep making 2-of-3 threes and 3-of-7 long twos.

Thabo Sefolosha returned to the starting lineup after missing the last 23 games for the Thunder. The Thunder defense returned to their old ways last night too now that Daequan Cook could start coming off the bench again.

Last year, Oklahoma City’s defense was one of the best in the league but they have struggled somewhat in that department this season. It was good to see them show glimpses of their potential on the defensive end last night.

The Thunder may be the best in the NBA at turning good defense into quick-scoring offense. We saw a great example of that last night after a Serge Ibaka block on Harrington quickly turned into a fast break alley-oop from Westbrook to James Harden.

That was Harden’s only bucket at the rim last night as he comfortably lit the Nuggets up from three instead. He made 4-of-6 threes in the game as the Thunder made a season-high 12 threes as a team last night.

Another big component to the return of Sefolosha is the Thunder getting back to their normal rotation. Cook seemed more comfortable coming back off the bench to the tune of making three three-pointers last night.

Reggie Jackson also played well with five points and four assists. There were some rumors just before the trade deadline about the Thunder possibly pursuing D.J. Augustin from the Charlotte Bobcats. The potential deal likely would have included Jackson, who seemed possibly relieved to still be with the Thunder last night and it was reflected in his game.

Tonight we will see the top two teams in the West do battle as the Thunder will host San Antonio. The Spurs made some noise yesterday trading away Richard Jefferson to Golden State for Stephen Jackson.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder made a season-high 12 three-pointers on their way to a 103-90 victory on the road against the Denver Nuggets Thursday night.

It was a day that featured many other headlines and the intensity from either team seemed on cruise control.

The Nuggets came into the game having just traded away Nene to Washington for JaVale McGee. Nene would of course not play in the game and McGee wouldn’t be arriving until Friday morning.

The Thunder got Thabo Sefolosha back after he missed the last 23 games with a right foot injury. Sefolosha looked good in his return especially on defense and the Thunder looked more comfortable in their rotation.

Kevin Durant would lead the team with 24 points and eight rebounds. Russell Westbrook scored 23 points but also had seven turnovers. James Harden poured in 18 off the bench including four three-pointers.

Daequan Cook did not have to start for the first time in a long time and looked more comfortable returning to his bench role. He came in and made three three-pointers for the Thunder and scored 11 points.

The Thunder would close with Reggie Jackson in the fourth quarter going small with Durant at the four. Jackson had a fine game with five points and four assists and the Thunder were plus-13 with him in the game.

The Denver Nuggets actually led this game at halftime 51-50 but would score just 39 points in the second half and just didn’t look like they had the legs to give enough effort to challenge the Thunder seriously.

Oklahoma City shot 48 percent from deep and made 12 threes while Denver struggled making only five treys out of 22 attempts.

The Thunder (33-10) will return home tomorrow night to host the San Antonio Spurs (28-13). The game will air at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (1-game losing streak)
106.6 Offensive Efficiency (2nd)
99.6 Defensive Efficiency (11th)
96.0 Pace (5th)
56.9 True Shooting % (1st)
51.4 Rebound Rate (5th)

Nuggets (1-game losing streak)
105.3 Offensive Efficiency (5th)
102.5 Defensive Efficiency (19th)
97.1 Pace (1st)
55.2 True Shooting % (3rd)
51.5 Rebound Rate (4th)

It’s amazing that there’s a game tonight with so much else going on with the trade deadline and March Madness starting today.

Oklahoma City did not make any moves before the trade deadline but they did have some talks with Charlotte about potentially going after point guard D.J. Augustin. You would imagine the Thunder would have packaged maybe Nazr Mohammed and some picks to get Augustin but it didn’t happen.

The Denver Nuggets however did make some noise as they were involved in a three-way trade with the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers. The Nuggets traded away Nene and received JaVale McGee and Ronny Turiaf.

Nene will not be playing tonight then and neither will McGee yet. The Nuggets also wanted to do this reportedly to make some cap room for signing Wilson Chandler.

As for the game, the Thunder should be more prepared. They also received good news today that Thabo Sefolosha will be back in the starting lineup after missing the last 23 games.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The last time these teams played was memorable to say the least. Kevin Durant scored his career-high 51 points, Russell Westbrook scored 40 and Serge Ibaka had a triple-double as the Thunder beat the Nuggets 124-118 in overtime.

Durant has always played well against the Nuggets and it should be no different tonight despite the return of Danilo Gallinari who did not play in the overtime game.

The Thunder are coming off a five-game home stand in which they surprisingly lost twice. They lost their last game in shocking fashion by one point to the Houston Rockets while being outscored 13-1 to end the game.

The Thunder also lost last Friday night to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Oklahoma City will surely be looking to rebound tonight and should be able to after things in Denver have been shaken up a bit with the trade deadline news.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder guard Thabo Sefolosha will return to the starting lineup tonight with the Thunder traveling to take on Denver tonight at 8 p.m. EST.

Sefolosha missed the last 23 games due to an injured right foot. James Harden started two games in his absence and Daequan Cook the other 21.

Sefolosha was missed in a lot of instances. He is one of the premiere perimeter defenders in the league. Being matched up with opponent’s starting twos was a tough task for Cook these past weeks.

The Thunder will also be able to get back to their original rotation using Cook off the bench. Cook was forced to play a lot of minutes starting and then remaining in the game with the second unit with Sefolosha out.

Royal Ivey has been getting a lot of minutes lately as Cook has struggled.

Sefolosha should also be helpful when the Thunder go small and need more defense at the end of games. The Thunder struggled in some games during his absence playing Cook late and did not have enough defense and rebounding on the court.

Kevin Durant scored a career-high 51 points last night in the Thunder’s 124-118 win over the Denver Nuggets last night.

Durant was super efficient getting his 51 as he went 19-of-28 from the field and 5-for-6 from downtown.

It may have seemed surprising to people that this is the first time Durant scored 50 or more in a game. He led the league in scoring the last two years but before this game his career high was 47 points.

If you had to guess how Durant would get a 50-point game it would have either been by getting to the line 20-plus times or getting hot from three-point land. He did the latter last night as he only went 8-for-10 from the free throw line.

Durant is shooting 51 percent on shots from 16-to-23 feet this year which is an amazing number for him. Last night he was only 1-of-4 on those shots and 2-of-5 on shots taken from 10-to-15 feet.

Durant did his most damage around the rim making 8-of-10 shots at the rim and all three of his shots from 3-to-9 feet.

Durant proves to be one of the most deadly catch-and-shoot shooters in the league as all five of his three-point makes last night were assisted.

Everyone will continue talking about Durant’s scoring night and probably forget Russell Westbrook’s amazing night. Westbrook scored 40 points himself, dished out nine assists and turned the ball over only twice.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant finally reached the 50-point plateau as he scored a career-high 51 points in the Thunder’s 124-118 win over the Denver Nuggets Sunday night.

Russell Westbrook was also on fire tonight scoring 40 points and Serge Ibaka had the first triple-double in franchise history with 14 points, 15 rebounds and 11 blocks (career-high).

Trailing 111-106 with 43 seconds left, Durant would score the final five points in regulation for the Thunder to send the game into overtime tied at 111.

Durant hit a three-pointer with 30 seconds left after an offensive rebound to bring the Thunder within a deuce of Denver. The Thunder forced the Nuggets into a three-point attempt at the end of the shot clock by Ty Lawson on the next possession and grabbed the defensive rebound.

After a timeout, Thunder head coach Scott Brooks had Durant come off a screen from Ibaka on the inbounds. Chris Andersen was forced to come out on Durant and Durant drove past Andersen easily for the slam to tie the game at 111.

Lawson missed a free throw line jumper at the buzzer and the game entered overtime.

Westbrook too remained hot in overtime with a big three-pointer with 4:37 left and then a 16-footer with 2:51 left that put the Thunder ahead 116-113.

Oklahoma City had the closers. Denver did not.

The Nuggets led for a lot of the game in large part to their work on the offensive glass as they collected 18 offensive rebounds with Andersen and Kosta Koufos combining for seven off the bench.

Denver also had 18 fast break points and 72 points in the paint for the game. The second unit was key for the Nuggets led by Andre Miller who scored 21 points and dished out 10 assists in 36 minutes.

Miller seemed however like the only Nugget who could consistently score down the stretch and Denver had to rely on offensive putbacks for everything else.

The Thunder don’t have this problem with their two elite scorer who combined for 91 points tonight. The dynamic duo outscored seven NBA teams by themselves tonight.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Oklahoma City trailed 58-53 at halftime but ended the first half on an 8-0 run. Then they began the third quarter scoring the first 12 points and finishing a 20-0 run ahead 65-58 with eight minutes left in the third.

Durant went 5-for-6 from three-point line in the game and was 19-of-28 overall from the field.

Ibaka’s career-high with 11 blocks marks the third time this season that he has reached double-digit blocks. Among active players, only Marcus Camby and Ben Wallace have had 10 or more blocks in a game in their career before.

This was the first game in NBA history in which players from the same team scored 50 points, 40 points and had a triple-double.

The one Thunder player that did not perform so well was James Harden who really struggled from the field going 2-of-12 and 1-of-7 from three and scoring only 10 points.

The entire Thunder bench was negative in plus-minus while every starter for Oklahoma City was positive. Ibaka had the best plus-minus at plus-31.

Oklahoma City (24-7) will host New Orleans (7-23) tomorrow night.

The Oklahoma City trails the Denver Nuggets 58-53 at halftime after closing the half on an 8-0 run. Kevin Durant is leading the way for the Thunder with 20 points.

Russell Westbrook has 13 points and six assists and has a couple of amazing dunks including the one above. Westbrook is noticeably passing better in this game and already past his season average in the game.

The Thunder usually have a huge advantage with their second unit but that isn’t the case against Denver. The Nuggets pulled away with their bench in there led by Kosta Koufos who has 11 points and eight rebounds. Chris Andersen is plus-16 in 12 minutes so far.

The Thunder have turned the ball over seven times and this isn’t a good thing when playing an opponent like Denver that is so good on the fast break. The Nuggets have 16 fast break points to the Thunder’s 12 in the first half.

Corey Brewer has played solid defense on Durant and is doing a little bit of everything so far with 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Nuggets are showing how they can be so deadly spreading the wealth on offense and having 17 of their 25 field goals assisted.

The Thunder will need to ride the momentum they created just before the half to comeback some more in the second half. Denver cannot matchup with Durant but he needs some help. Westbrook has missed some jumpers and James Harden is 1-of-4 from deep so far.

Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (1-game winning streak)
105.7 Offensive Efficiency (2nd)
99.0 Defensive Efficiency (14th)
96.1 Pace (4th)

Nuggets (2-game losing streak)
104.6 Offensive Efficiency (4th)
100.9 Defensive Efficiency (17th)
97.7 Pace (1st)

This is the first time Oklahoma City will play Denver this year. The two teams met in the first round of the playoffs last season in a series that Oklahoma City took 4-1. Kevin Durant was impossible for the Nuggets to cover in that series as he averaged 32.4 points per game including two 41-point games. This season the Nuggets started off hot but have lost nine of their last 12 games. They still are one of the best teams by the stats in the NBA but clinging to a playoff spot in the West.

Thunder keys to the game

1. Points in the paint

The Denver Nuggets are the best team in the NBA at scoring in the paint and lead the NBA in taking shots at the rim attempting 33.0 per game, 5.3 more than the second team. Denver does this by spreading the floor well and penetrating with their point guards Ty Lawson and Andre Miller. It is unsure if Kendrick Perkins will return to the lineup yet tonight so the burden of protecting the paint will lie largely with Serge Ibaka, who is leading the NBA in blocks per game this season. Expect the Thunder to go small a lot in this game and if they do with Nick Collison playing center, the Nuggets may be able to take advantage and get into the paint a lot.

2. Free throws

The Nuggets and Thunder are the two best teams in the league at getting to the line. This is the case for the Thunder because of their star power with Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Denver gets to the line because you never know who is going to be shooting for them. The team that shoots the most free throws in this game will surely have the advantage since both rely so heavily on getting to the line. Durant averaged over double-digit free throw attempts against the Nuggets in their playoff series last year so should have no trouble doing the same tonight.

3. Transition

Both teams are also two of the best at scoring on the break this year. Oklahoma City has really turned up their transition game lately as their defensive rebounding has been improving. Sometimes transition production is a result of which way the basketball bounces so whichever team is getting the most opportunities on the break should be the one leading on the scoreboard. The Thunder are going to need to play sound defense and have good positioning to rebound against the Nuggets so that they can get out and run.

Prediction: Oklahoma City wins 108-100.