Tony Parker explodes for 42 as San Antonio Spurs overwhelm Oklahoma City Thunder 107 – 96 – NBA Recap
The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder on the back of a dazzling display by point guard Tony Parker. The game at the AT&T Center was always going to go San Antonio’s way as they were the stronger team throughout, and won it in the end with a double digit margin.
The Spurs were bolstered by the performance of Tony Parker, who seemed like a man possessed. The veteran guard turned back the clock to produce a swashbuckling display, garnering a season high 42 points and dishing out 9 assists. Parker also became the Spurs all time leading assist maker during the game.
Apart from Parker, Tim Duncan had a solid game for San Antonio with a double-double, 13 points and 15 rebounds. Kawhi Leonard also played his part with 15 points.
The young stars of Oklahoma City were simply overwhelmed by Parker’s finesse and couldn’t produce the sparkling performances that they have become renowned for this season. Kevin Durant scored the team high 22 points and also hauled down 11 boards. Russell Westbrook had 18 points and James Harden scored 19 off the bench.
Oklahoma City Thunder were actually quicker out of the blocks, opening the game with an 11 – 4 spurt. The Spurs though hit back with a 19 – 6 sprint that turned the game in their favour. They ended the first period up at 25 – 21.
OKC couldn’t make many inroads in the second quarter either, largely because they were unable to stop Parker. Although the Thunder scored a pretty hefty 26 points in the period, they also let in 32, which meant that at halftime they were trailing San Antonio 57 – 47.
Not much changed after the interval. The Thunder tried desperately to claw their way back into the game but the Spurs were in no mood to concede ground. They outscored OKC again in the third quarter and went into the final period with a commanding lead of 18, the score 88 – 70.
The game was pretty much decided by then and Spurs took their foot off the pedal; allowing the reserves to get some minutes on the court. Oklahoma City thus found the chance to reduce the margin of their loss and the game ended 107 – 96.
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