Oklahoma City Thunder trump Orlando Magic 97 – 89 - NBA Recap Part 1
Oklahoma City Thunder got their season off to a fine start here on Christmas Day with a win over the Orlando Magic.
OKC held the upper hand throughout the game to the delight of around 18,000 fans at the Chesapeake Energy Arena and finished it off at 97 – 89.
Kevin Durant was the star of the show, to nobody’s surprise. The super star forward dominated on offense with game high 30 points and 6 assists to his name, while he also had 5 rebounds and a couple of steals. Russell Westbrook
reprised his role of the trusted lieutenant to Durant, notching up 14 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds. James Harden also made waives; coming off the bench to rake in 19 points and 6 rebounds.
Orlando’s star centre Dwight Howard never got going and that was probably the side’s biggest shortcoming on the night. In a poor game by his high standards, Howard could only manage 11 point on 4-of-12 shooting while he did manage
game high 15 rebounds. Ryan Anderson did all he could to fill the offensive void left by Howard and accumulated 25 points. He was particularly deadly from beyond the arc, connecting on 6-of-12 attempts and also grabbed an impressive 10 rebounds. Jameer Nelson
had a good night out as he played a guiding role with 6 assists and 18 points.
The Magic actually got off to a better start and raced to an 18 – 11 lead with 7:43 on the clock. OKC though fired back immediately, rallying to first level the scores at 18 – 18, and the using a late surge to end the first quarter
on top at 27 – 22.
The real damage though was done in the 2nd quarter. Durant and his teammates came out with all guns blazing and the Magic didn’t have an answer for them. By the middle of the quarter, Oklahoma City were up by 15 points
and the Magic looked in danger of falling apart. Orlando took some measures to control the damage but were still down by 14 points when the first half ended at 55 – 41.
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