Oklahoma City Thunder outplay the Minnesota Timberwolves 111 – 103
Seven players from the Oklahoma City Thunder put up double figures and handed the Minnesota Timberwolves a 111 – 103 loss at the Oklahoma City Arena on Friday. Kevin Durant put in a good performance to rack up 23 points on the night.
In the first quarter that did not leave much to choose between the two sides, Oklahoma City grabbed a 25 -21 lead behind Kevin Durant’s three-pointer at the 3:57 mark. Martell Webster then hit a jumper to cut the lead to three points heading into the second quarter.
Oklahoma City started the second period with an 18 – 10 run to further substantiate their advantage to 48 – 37. Both teams traded shots as the first half closed with OKC leading 64 – 53.
The Thunder shot 52.4 percent from the floor and dominated the battle in the painted area with a 58 -46 advantage.
Minnesota fired off a 10 -2 spurt to cut the Thunder lead down to seven points with 3:15 left to go in the third period, and went on to outscore Oklahoma City 29 – 24 in the quarter. With 11 seconds to go in the third, Durant buried a huge three-pointer and followed it up with another one at the buzzer to put his team up 88 – 82 going into the fourth.
The Thunder put a balanced offense into play, as seven players from the side contributed sizably. Russell Westbrook scored 19 points and handed out eight assists, while Serge Ibaka had 8 points and 10 rebounds.
OKC came out gunning in the fourth to go on a 10 -3 run and re-establish their advantage over the Timberwolves. Russell Westbrook’ dunk with 1:40 left to go in the game put the Thunder up 111 – 93. Minnesota countered with an unanswered 10 point run in the end but it was all a little too late.
Kendrick Perkins was unstoppable down low with 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting, but failed to impress from the free throw line. He went 1-of-6 from the charity stripe. OKC’s bench contributed 40 points to round up a good performance.
All five of Minnesota’s starters managed double-figures in scoring, but the Timberwolves committed 20 turnovers during the course of the game to dig themselves into a hole. Anthony Randolph followed up his good performance against the Mavericks on Thursday with another good game tonight as he collected 24 points and 15 boards to lead the charge for Minnesota.
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