Kevin Martin drops 32 as Houston Rockets edge out Oklahoma City Thunder – NBA Recap
After a horror night against the Memphis Grizzlies, Kevin Martin pounded 30 points in the first three quarters of the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and then came back deep in the fourth to nail two game winning freebies,
helping Houston Rockets carve out a 96-95 thriller against the league leaders.
Kevin Durant, who finished with a game high 33 points with 8 rebounds, had ample opportunities to win the game for OKC down the stretch. However with 23.6 seconds to go, he first missed a trey and after a team rebound, KD again
made a hash of a jumper.
Luckily for Thunder, their talisman managed to grab the rebound and Scott Brooks took a timeout.
Durant tried a mid range jumper seconds after, but again missed and so did Westbrook on his attempted tip-in. With just fraction of a second remaining, Daequan Cook fouled Goran Drajic, but to make the matters more gripping, the
Rockets guard missed twice from the line.
Westbrook had the ball in the last play with literally no time to play, he missed a three.
"I missed shots. That's what happens.” Durant on what went wrong during the Thunder's final possession. “Guys expecting me to make every shot late in the fourth quarter, you're setting yourself up for failure. We got unbelievable
looks, better looks than we usually get."
Martin was knocking down everything that came his way early, finishing with 12 points as the Rockets, after making a 6-0 start, reeled off a 16-4 spurt enroute to a 29-13 first quarter lead. However, K-Mart started to cool off
in the second and OKC punched right back with an 18-4 run, capped by a three from Durant to make it 31-35.
Two Houston field goals later, Oklahoma City again raced away to 9-3 run to tie the game at 42. Houston went into the break leading by 45-44, and after a high paced third quarter, they managed to add one more point to their lead,
75-73.
Houston kept on pushing and were leading by 5 before OKC scored 7 consecutive points to take a 2 point lead with nearly five minutes to go. The Rockets managed to regain a one point lead, but Durant and Westbrook, who scored 26
points with 8 rebounds, combined for 4 points to give Thunder a 95-92 lead.
Oklahoma City however missed all of their next shots to allow Rockets a famous win.
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