James Harden pounds 33 as Oklahoma City Thunder decimate Charlotte Bobcats 122 – 95 – NBA Recap
On Saturday night the two opposite ends of NBA spectrum confronted each other. The best in the Western Conference Oklahoma City Thunder decimated the worst in Eastern Conference Charlotte Bobcats, 122-95 here at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Thunder were cheesed off by the Friday night’s defeat and they took it all out on the hapless Bobcats, compelling them to a deficit in all 4 quarters.
"I thought our guys did a good job of bouncing back from last night's loss”, coach Scott Brooks said. "It was a good win. Everyone participated with a good effort."
James Harden was on song as he tallied a career high 33 points, 22 of those in the 1st half. Kevin Durant had 26 points and 7 rebounds while Russell Westbrook collected 23 points in Oklahoma City’s 32nd victory of the season.
The host’s started slow in the opening frame and the game remained close, however they managed to conclude the 1st quarter with a slender 28-25 margin.
Afterwards in the 2nd quarter things started to pick up as Thunder raced off with a 16-4 spurt to claim a double digit 44-29 lead. The away side could come up with only 2 points, 44-31 before Oklahoma went for another 13-4 run which ballooned
their margin to 57-35 deep through the frame.
As the teams headed towards their locker rooms, Oklahoma City had taken a 58-40 lead.
Thunder cruised throughout 3rd period and deep into the frame they had augmented their lead to 80-65. Kevin Durant netted a freebie that instigated an 11-5 run for Thunder.
With this run they proceeded towards the last 12 minutes of the game having a comfortable 91-70 advantage.
The host’s decided to punish Bobcats further in the last frame.
Oklahoma City shot the lights out by pulling off a 16-6 run and took an unbeatable 122-91 lead. As time expired Charlotte could only reduce the margin of their defeat by 122-95.
Coach Scott Brooks was all praise for his team especially after the huge come back from the Last Friday defeat at the hands of Cleveland Cavaliers.
"When you play an NBA season, you want to sustain your energy and be consistent," Brooks said. "We've been pretty good with that and every now and then we have a game that's not up to our level, and we address it immediately. They came out and did a great
job."
Bobcats were led by D.J. Augustin, he poured in 22 points and forward Corey Maggette collected 21 points while Byron Mullens chipped in with 12 coming off the bench.
DJ White recorded 10 points as Bobcats skidded down to a 3 game losing streak after receiving their 34th defeat of this shortened season.
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