Kevin Durant helps Oklahoma City Thunder best Boston Celtics 97 – 88 – NBA Recap(Part 1)
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been in great form early in the 2011-2012 NBA season and look set to be a major force come the playoffs. They did their credentials no harm at all with a good win over the Boston Celtics, perennial giants of the league.
The game at the TD Garden was pretty competitive but the young guns of Oklahoma City always looked just a little more livelier than the aging warhorses of Boston. Other than being a matchup between two powerhouses in the league, the game was also special because it marked the first return of centre Kendrick Perkins to Boston after his trade last season.
Perkins was traded on deadline day last season to the Oklahoma City Thunder by Boston President Danny Ainge, ending an over 7 year relationship with the franchise. Perkins received a warm welcome upon his return to the old hunting ground and Boston even played a video of his time at the club in the first half.
The gesture was appreciated a lot by Perkins, who admitted emotions were running high in the game.
"Mentally, I was out of it," said Perkins, who had had seven points and five rebounds in the game. "It was unbelievable. I really appreciated it. It was something they didn't have to do."
His coach also commented on the importance of a return to the city for Perkins,
"It was emotional for him. He grew up here," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "He's loved by his former coach, teammates and the fans, and rightfully so. He does everything that you want your player to do. ... That's a classy organization, for what they did on the scoreboard."
The real driving force behind the Thunder though was super star forward Kevin Durant. Durant notched up a game high 28 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and also had 4 assists. Point guard Russell Westbrook had almost identical numbers with 26 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Welcome assistance was provided by Thabo Sefolosha with 19 points.
It was their attacking prowess that helped the Thunder launch an early strike against the Boston Celtics in the first quarter. With the home crowd expecting a strong showing from their team early on, Oklahoma City shocked the arena with some solid defence while their attacks were just too incisive for Boston to stop.
The first quarter was characterized by a 12 – 2 run by Durant and his colleagues that put them firmly in charge at 21 – 13. When the period ended, OKC were up 25 – 17.
Boston improved in the following segment but not as much as they would have wanted to. Although they scored more than they did in the first quarter, they were still unable to restrict Oklahoma City, who had 21 points against 22 by the Celtics. The first half thus came to an end with the visitors in the lead at 46 – 39.
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