Kevin Durant, Daequan Cook and Marc Gasol: Top Performers from 11th May playoff games (Part 2)
Kevin Durant
After leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a triple-overtime victory on Monday, the league’s leading scorer Kevin Durant posted yet another dominating performance on Wednesday night. Playing at the Oklahoma City Arena, the All-Star racked up a game-high 19 points and clutched 7 rebounds as the Thunder romped to a 99-72 blow-out victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The sharp-shooting forward connected 50 percent from the field buried a blow from beyond the arc and landed 4-of-6 free throws in the game. Durant didn't showed any signs of fatigue after the last stretched out meeting and was the only starter except Russell Westbrook to land double figures.
Thunder coach Scott Brook said on his players, "NBA players have the hearts of champions, I don't know if fatigue was a factor for them but it wasn't on our end."
Kevin scored 11 points in the first two quarters and was the main catalyst behind a blow-out surge deep into the second quarter, after which the Grizzlies never came within the striking distance.
Daequan Cook
Thunder's 3-point specialist Daequan Cook was absolutely brilliant on the night and he thrashed the off colour Grizzlies out of the game with his flawless shooting. Cook exploded off the bench with 18 points on a 6 of 7 shooting from within the arc, 4-of-5 from the long range and 2-of-2 free throws. Cook was especially terrific down the stretch and smashed the Grizzlies with 13 points in the final 12 minutes, including three 3-pointers, as the Oklahoma City romped to a big win.
Marc Gasol
On Wednesday night at the Oklahoma City Arena, centre Marc Gasol was the only player in the Memphis Grizzlies' line-up who posted a decent performance. Gasol landed a team-high 15 points and grabbed 5 rebounds but he failed to gain any support from the remaining players.
The superstar however disagreed from the notion that the Grizzlies were tired after the last meeting and said, “Fatigue wasn't as much an issue as effort when we got down we gave up too easily."
Disappointment of the night
The biggest and to some extent shocking disappointment of the night was the Grizzlies henchman, Zach Randolph. The prolific post sensation had one of those rare nights, where he failed to post a double-double and finished with only 9 points and 7 rebounds.
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