The OKC Thunder made it look easy as they strolled into Madison Square Garden to dismantle the New York Knicks 127-109 on MLK day.
After scoring an impressive win over Philadelphia two nights ago, the OKC Thunder rolled into Madison Square to dismantle the New York Knicks 127-109. Paul George led all scorers with 31 points with Russell Westbrook chipping in with a near triple-double, posting 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in 29 minutes of play.
Right from the outset, the Thunder were firing on both sides of the ball. Oklahoma City shot a scorching 13-22 from the field (59.1), 5-9 from three and 2-2 from the line in the opening stanza while holding New York to 28 percent shooting. PG13 torched New York early to the tune of 13 points, hitting a number of tough jumpers and strong drives to the cup. OKC built an 18-point buffer to lead 34-16 at the end of the first quarter.
Oklahoma City and New York traded buckets throughout the second stanza with the Thunder appearing to relax its defensive intensity. Tim Hardaway Jr. began to cook, scoring 12 quick points to give New York life. Luckily for OKC, Westbrook began to heat up posting 11 points in the stanza and posted one of his most efficient quarters in recent memory. The Brodie shot 4-6 from the field, 1-1 from three and 2-3 from the line to keep OKC a float. Oklahoma City went to the locker room ahead 67-47 in front of a quiet MSG crowd.
Coming out of half-time, the Thunder allowed New York to trim the lead to 15 on the back of poor defensive intensity. Following a time-out from coach Billy Donovan, PG13 finished a beautiful drive off a Steven Adams assist before nailing a soft floater in the lane. The Thunder and Knicks would trade buckets for most of the third quarter before a 7-0 run blew the lead back up to 19.
With the game firmly in control, Westbrook and PG rested the entire fourth quarter as the Thunder’s bench played out the rest of the way.