The OKC Thunder shake off a slow start to roll past the New York Knicks inside the confines of the infamous Madison Square Garden. Grades offer the goods.
Coming off a less than stellar three-game stretch, the OKC Thunder looked to get right against the struggling New York Knicks. They got just that with an emphatic 126-103 victory over New York on Friday night.
Chris Paul got things started with a couple of nice jumpers and nifty moves throughout the first half. The Knicks hung around for a while before the Thunder really got cooking late in the second quarter. SGA and CP3 lead a much improved offensive attack on this night to a thirteen point first half lead as these teams headed into halftime.
The Knicks have a couple of interesting players such as Mitchell Robinson, but they don’t feel like a team that plays together. That’s the difference between them and the OKC Thunder. Oklahoma City has made a name for themselves this year with excellent team basketball. That was on full display once again tonight.
This game never really got close in the second half, which is a good thing for a Thunder team that almost blew a game the other night falling asleep at the wheel. OKC is a good team, but to do anything in the playoffs, they have to keep their foot on the proverbial throat of their opponent each and every night. They did that tonight and came away victorious for the 39th time this year.
On to player grades.