Kevin Durant shines as Oklahoma City Thunder overpower New Orleans Hornets 95-85 - NBA Recap
Oklahoma City Thunder are off to a blazing start in the 2011-2012 NBA season.
They have lost only two games so far and just few hours back, they extended their record to 10-2 by thumping New Orleans Hornets 95-85 at New Orleans Arena.
This was Thunder’s fifth straight game in six days and therefore, at times they looked weary in the court, however their star Kevin Durant, never at any instance looked untidy and attacked right from the very beginning until the end.
Durant finished with a game high 29 points on 11 for 17 from inside the arc and 10 rebounds.
"It feels good to get five wins, man," Durant said. "We've got to look forward to keep pushing, keep building on it and hopefully do a good job next game. It's very encouraging that we can get through something like this."
Guard Russell Westbrook had 22 points and 7 assists while the reserve, James Harden netted 14 on a near perfect shooting (6-for-7) from the charity stripe.
Oklahoma were accurate with their shooting and shot almost 48% from the floor including 7 for 20 from the long range.
Chris Kaman and the reserve Carl Landry led the Hornets with 17 points each while Emeka Okafor, Marco Belinelli and Dajuan Summers accumulated 10 apiece.
Hornets got off to a flying start and led throughout the first frame. In the second quarter, Thunder pulled things back and after an intense 12 minutes, managed to finish the first half with a one point lead 49-48.
Thunder started the third quarter with a magnificent 14-4 run to get into a commanding position for the first time in the game, and after that they never trailed.
In the deciding frame, a jumper by Kaman in the first minute brought the Hornets within striking distance 72-76. However, Oklahoma City were up to the task and reeled off a 9-3 run to gain complete domination of the game. Hornets failed to make any sort
of a comeback after that and lost the game with a double digit margin at the end.
The Hornets have a relatively new and revamped side after they traded away super star Chris Paul and are still settling in as a team. There were a few positives they would definitely take out of the game.
"We showed that we can come out and jump on teams early, but we also showed we have difficulty sustaining it for 48 minutes," said Hornets guard Jarrett Jack, who had eight points and eight assists. "It's frustrating."
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