Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE
The Oklahoma City Thunder bounced back from a loss in Boston the night before to beat the Philadelphia 76ers on the road 116-109 in overtime.
The Thunder didn’t score in the final four minutes of regulation allowing the 76ers to come back and force the extra period.
The Thunder got hot from deep in overtime to run away with the win and avoid back-to-back losses.
OKC shot 44.3 percent from the field while Philadelphia shot 49.5 percent. The big difference was the Thunder shooting 37 free throws and Philly just 17.
Here are the Game Grades:
Kevin Durant – 50 minutes, 37 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists – A
Durant was huge last night scoring a season-high 37 and getting to the line 17 times and making 15 free throws. Durant is averaging 34.0 points per game over his last three and is attempting 15.0 free throws per game too. He did a little bit of everything last night getting four steals and three blocks as well. Late, it was nothing but isolation for Durant and it worked somewhat, although OKC struggled to score at the end of regulation.
Russell Westbrook – 42 minutes, 30 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds – A
Westbrook got off to a hot start in the game scoring 12 in the first quarter. He was getting to the rim with great ease in the pick-and-roll and finishing better than usual too. Westbrook is continuing to shoot a lot of threes and in overtime made a huge one to help the Thunder run away for the win. To top it off, Westbrook added nine dimes and the Thunder were plus-8 when he was on the floor.
Serge Ibaka – 37 minutes, 18 points, 9 rebounds, 0 blocks – B+
For the first time all season, Ibaka did not block a shot in the game. The Thunder were not great defensively either last night letting Philly to shoot almost 50 percent for the game. Ibaka’s outside stroke has been very impressive this season and last night he went 8-of-12 from the field with most of those shots consisting of the midrange variety. Right now Ibaka is a 15 and 8 guy who is showing potential of becoming an 18 and 10 player.
Kevin Martin – 37 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals – D+
Martin struggled from the field again making just one of his first eight shot attempts. Then in overtime he stepped up and made a big time three in transition that if had not gone in, would have looked like a very stupid shot. Martin had just nine points and zero assists in the past two games. He played big minutes but when he was out there with Durant and Westbrook was not used in the offense much at all.
Kendrick Perkins – 20 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal – D
Perkins really needs to stop the thing where he guards the opposing point guard full court. It has basically yet to work at all and has resulted in the other team scoring on the Thunder nearly every time. Aside from that, he was pretty bad on offense too and it was a blessing that Nick Collison was scoring and Perkins only played 20 minutes.
Thabo Sefolosha – 38 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists – C
Sefolosha made some bad turnovers late in the game and Durant got mad at him at one point for not spacing the floor properly. These are not good things and scoring just six points in 38 minutes isn’t impressive either. The one great thing he did was hitting a three in overtime but aside from that, didn’t give the Thunder too much last night and was more of a hindrance than usual.
Nick Collison – 21 minutes, 14 points, 5 rebounds – A+
Collison was perfect last night as Martin and Maynor continued to give OKC just about nothing in terms of scoring, Collison decided to step up. He was 5-of-6 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. He made a couple of buckets driving to the rim too which is usually somewhat out of his comfort zone. When Collison gets more minutes than Perkins, it is always a good thing.
Eric Maynor – 11 minutes, 0 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound – C
Maynor is continuing to struggle to score and simply get opportunities to do so and went 0-for-4 from the field last night. He didn’t get a lot of minutes and was yanked early in the fourth quarter. The Thunder played a lot with small lineups but never with Maynor and Westbrook on the floor together, which is something we thought we would see a little more. Right now, Scott Brooks is going with Sefolosha over Maynor almost always.
Hasheem Thabeet – 9 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal – C+
Thabeet went pretty unnoticed in this one. That was just fine considering his role. Of course, OKC outscored their opponent with Thabeet in and got outscored when Perkins was in.