Kevin Durant sizzles as Oklahoma City Thunder thrash Chicago Bulls 92 – 78 – NBA Recap
The Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday handed out a sound thrashing to the Chicago Bulls, who still have the best record in the NBA. The Thunder are breathing down their neck though and made a statement at the Chesapeake Energy Arena with their 92 – 78 win.
The Chicago Bulls were without injured super star and current NBA MVP Derrick Rose yet again, but Oklahoma City Thunder had their talisman, Kevin Durant, fit and firing. Durant delivered big time for the Thunder with a terrific double-double, 26 points and 10 rebounds, not to mention 4 assists.
Top scorer for the Thunder though was live wire point guard Russell Westbrook, who tallied 27 points and 5 assists, while he also had 4 steals. James Harden had 11 coming off the bench.
For coach Scott Brooks however, the best thing about OKC’s display was their defence, epitomized by Serge Ibaka and his 5 blocked shots.
"We played our best defense of the year. We challenged every pass, challenged every look and every shot. We came out with good energy and toughness and I thought it was important that we do that in this game." Brooks said.
The Bulls never really got going, especially the starters, only one out of whom reached the double figure mark. That was Kyle Korver, the guard raking up 14 points and 4 assists. John Lucas came off the bench to score team high 19 points while Taj Gibson had 10 points and 11 assists.
Oklahoma City had an 8 – 2 sprint to start of the game, a lead they stretched to 20 – 11 with 4:18 left in the first quarter. They maintained a healthy advantage till the period ended, 27 – 20.
An 8 – 0 run in the second segment took the Thunder to 37 – 26. The Bulls were able to bring the deficit down to single digits but a 6 – 0 streak by OKC meant that they went into the halftime break up at 49 – 39.
It all fell apart for Chicago after the break. The Thunder were simply unplayable in the third frame, piling on 31 points. On the other hand, the Bulls simply couldn’t buy a bucket, managing only 12.
They entered the final 12 minutes up at 80 – 51. The Bulls stepped up a little as the result was out of doubt and OKC eased off. At the final buzzer the score was 92 – 78.
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