Thunder victorious against Bobcats
The Oklahoma City Thunder might be the best kept secret in the NBA.
And they got their year off to a good start with a 97-93 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats Wednesday night in their pre-season opener. With their young and talented core of Kevin Durant,
Russell Westbrook, and Jeff Green, it was the 6ft 9in Green who led the Thunder last night, scoring a game-high 25 points without even seeing the floor in the final quarter.
"He was really having a good shooting game obviously, if this was a regular-season game, he would have played the fourth quarter," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said of Green, who connected
on five of his seven three-point attempts. "Any time you step on the floor, you've got something to prove as a professional and as a team, and I thought the guys in the fourth quarter really showed that."
Durant, fresh off his MVP-winning performance for the gold-medal U.S. team at the FIBA World Championship this summer in Turkey, also played limited minutes, scoring 12 points in 17 minutes
of playing time. Durant, who didn’t play at all in the second half, was asked after the game whether he minded the limited minutes.
"I was furious," Durant joked. "They're just looking out for me. I had a long summer (playing for the U.S. team), at least that's what they think. I felt good being back on the court with
my guys. Hopefully, I'll play more next game."
James Harden had 16 points while Serge Ibaka had the only double-double of the game with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Westbrook, who played alongside Durant at the FIBA World Championship,
managed nine points and six assists in 21 minutes of action.
The Bobcats, losers to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday in their first pre-season game, couldn’t get past the Thunder in the final quarter, never owning the lead and unable to make a
field goal in the last seven minutes of the game.
NBA legend Michael Jordan, owner of the Bobcats, looked on from a courtside seat as Tyrus Thomas led the Bobcats with 16 points and Gerald Wallace and Boris Diaw each chipped in with 14
points.
"A lot of things we talked about that kind of went south in Cleveland, I think we made an effort to try and correct them," Charlotte coach Larry Brown said. "We played harder, shared the
ball better, executed a little better. We're still playing too fast."
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