OKC Thunder Comeback, Beat Knicks in Sloppy Game

The OKC Thunder were able to right the ship after a horrendous start, defeating the hapless New York Knicks 116-105.

The Knicks can’t seem to do anything right lately, least of all hold an early lead against the OKC Thunder. From dubious, cryptic tweets from the team president seemingly about Carmelo Anthony to the whole, umm… issue that occured with NY Knick legend Charles Oakley, the Knicks have been in the news quite often lately. None of it has been good.

The Knicks got off to an unconscious start early, and were up 16-2 on the OKC Thunder before most of the people in the Peake found their seats for the evening. Carmelo Anthony, their embattled star, and recent injury selection to replace Kevin Love for the Eastern Conference in Sunday’s All-Star Game, could not miss early.

Melo had 19 points by the end of the fist quarter, despite Andre Roberson being in his chest every possession.

OKC couldn’t buy a basket at the beginning of the game, and their shooting woes, for the most part, continued again tonight. The Thunder would finish the game shooting 46.6 from the field.

Russell Westbrook, like always, fueled the Thunder comeback en route to his 27th triple-double of the season. Westbrook would finish with 38 points, 14 rebounds, and 12 assists for the night.

Victor Oladipo was the second leading scorer for the Thunder with 25 points on 9-17 shooting. Jerami Grant chipped in 13 off the bench, and Andre Roberson and Steven Adams chipped in 10 and 11 points, respectively for the Thunder. Unfortunately, Cameron Paynecontinued his struggles from the field, shooting 0-6 in 12 minutes off the bench.

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Conversely, after converting 7 of his first 8, Melo would finish 11-20 from the field for 30 points for New York. Derrick Rose had a nice night for the Knicks, scoring 25 points along with 7 assists.

It was a sloppily played game, especially early. Both teams combined for 27 turnovers. In addition, the Thunder were able to dominate on the glass, out rebounding the Knicks by 9 rebounds, 6 of which came on the offensive glass.

The Thunder head into the All-Star break with a 32-25 record. They’re a full seven games ahead of the 8th seed Denver Nuggets. OKC’s next game is next Friday, February 24, when they play host to the Los Angeles Lakers.