Buzzer beater by Tony Parker helps San Antonio Spurs steal a victory against Oklahoma City Thunder – NBA Recap
The defending Western Conference champions Oklahoma City Thunder opened their regular season against their Western Conference Finals opponents from last season, the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder took to the court with a different line-up than expected, after trading reigning 6th man of the year James Harden to the Houston Rockets only a few days ago. And in the absence of one of the key members of the Thunder core, the Spurs were able to steal an 86-84 victory through a buzzer beating winner by Tony Parker.
This was the second consecutive game for the Spurs in which Parker secured a victory for the team by scoring in the final seconds. His clutch shot in the final seconds of the game against the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night helped the Spurs open the season with a victory. Against the Thunder, he finished with 14 points and 11 assists, while Tim Duncan led the scoring with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Kevin Durant was the leading scorer for the Thunder, finishing the game with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists.
Oklahoma City started the game hot and quickly raced to an early 8-0 lead, but the Spurs got into rhythm soon enough and scored the next 11 points to take an 11-8 lead. Two free throws by Durant put the Thunder up 20-17 later on, and they held on to the lead, assisted by two free throws by Nick Collison in the final 30 seconds of the period, to take a 24-21 lead going into the second quarter.
A three pointer by newly acquired Kevin Martin early in the 2nd quarter put the Thunder up 29-23, but a finger roll by Gary Neal followed by a three point shot by Danny Green had the Spurs within one point. After Durant gave the Thunder a 36-34 lead with an alley oop dunk, the Spurs scored the next seven points and led the Thunder 41-36. Duncan later scored a dunk in the final 30 seconds to have the Spurs leading 45-40 at halftime.
A three point play by Russell Westbrook followed by a three pointer by Thabo Sefolosha opened the third period and put the Thunder back on top by 1. However, the Spurs were their usual self on the court and got contributions from a number of players that helped them stay in the game. A 6-0 run had the Spurs up 57-49, and after Serge Ibaka scored a jump shot, the Spurs scored four more points straight to give them a 61-51 lead over the Thunder. Oklahoma City, however, were able to cut the lead down before the end of the period and a buzzer beating three pointer by Eric Maynor tied the game at 66 and set up a thrilling final period.
The Spurs went on an 11-0 run early in the final period to take a 77-69 advantage over the defending Western Conference champs, and OKC momentarily lost their momentum by scoring only 7 points in the first 6 minutes of the period. Still, the Spurs led by only four points, and a tip shot by Kendrick Perkins had the Spurs lead down to 1 point with 4:27 left in the game. Martin then scored a three pointer for the Thunder and tied the game at 80. Four consecutive free throws by Westbrook had the Thunder up 84-81, but Parker nailed a three pointer with less than thirty seconds left in the game to tie the scores at 84. Kawhi Leonard then stole the ball from Westbrook and after a timeout, the Spurs made one final play and Parker nailed a buzzer beating jump shot to steal the victory.
Danny Green finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds for the Spurs, while Boris Diaw added 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Westbrook had 18 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists for the Thunder, and new comer Kevin Martin finished with 15 points and 5 assists in his debut for Oklahoma City, including a 3 of 6 performance from three point range.
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