Thunder Rolls Over Denver by 20
The Oklahoma City Thunder whipped a very tough Denver Nuggets team right from the start, turning what should have been a good game into a laugher with a 117-97 win. The Thunder raced out to a 34-18 lead after one quarter and was never in any real trouble after that. They had a 67-47 lead at the half and maintained it through the second half as they improved their NBA best record to 31-8. They lead the Los Angeles Clippers by one game in the Western Conference playoff race. The Clippers are 30-9 and will be at the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow.
The Thunder was led by Russell Westbrook with 32 points and Kevin Durant and Kevin Martin with 20 each. They will be at the Dallas Mavericks on Friday and then will go to Denver on Sunday for a rematch.
Dallas will be coming off a win over the Houston Rockets 105-100. Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 19 points and O.J. Mayo and Shawn Marion each chipped in 18 points in handing the Rockets their fifth loss in a row. Elton Brand got a huge blocked shot on a drive by James Harden while the score was tied late in the game. Mayo was fouled grabbing the loose ball and went to the line with 1:02 left and hit two free throws to make it 99-97. The Mavs held on from there. The Rockets are now 21-19 while the Mavericks improved to 17-23.
The San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies got together for the third time this season. The first two were overtime thrillers withe Spurs winning one and the Grizzlies winning one. So the third time around would be another nail biter, right? Not so fast my friend. The Spurs routed the Grizzlies 103-82, holding the Grizzlies to 28 second half points. The Spurs were led by Tim Duncan with 19 points and Tony Parker with 17 points and 11 assists. Rudy Gay led the Grizzlies with 17 points one game after attending his grandmother’s funeral. The Spurs are now 30-11 and the Grizzlies fell to 24-13.
The Atlanta Hawks stopped the hot Brooklyn Nets 109-95. The Nets came into the game 9-1 in their last ten games and the Hawks came in following a humbling loss to the Chicago Bulls when they scored only 58 points. Jeff Teague had his carer high 28 points and also added 11 assists as the Hawks improved to 22-16. Atlanta had lost six of seven games and were without leading scorer Josh Smith who was suspended for one game. May feel he will be traded before the trade deadline. The Nets fell to 23-16 with the loss.
The Bulls got an overtime win over the Toronto Raptors 107-105. Carlos Boozer led the Bulls with 36 points and 12 rebounds while Joakim Noah added 16 points and 14 rebounds. Luol Deng chipped in 19 points and Richard Hamilton added 15 as they improved to 22-15. Deng hit the game winner despite playing with a sore hamstring, a jumper with three seconds left in overtime. Toronto dipped to 14-25 with the loss and were led by Alan Anderson with 27 points and Kyle Lowry with 26.
The Orlando Magic beat the Indiana Pacers 97-86. The Magic held Indiana to 35 first half points as they went into the locker room up 16 points. The Magic was also pretty good on offense going 12 of 21 on their three point attempts as they built as much as a 22 point lead over the Pacers. Nicola Vukevic had 16 points and 15 rebounds to lead Orlando who improved to 14-24. Arron Afflalo added 15 points while Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick chipped in 14 each in the balanced Orlando attack. The Pacers fell to 24-16 and were led by Paul George with 20.
Lebron James became the youngest player in NBA history to score 20,000 points in a career as he led the Miami Heat to a 92-75 win over the Golden State Warriors. James led the Heat with 25 points as they improved to 25-12 on the season. They will travel to Los Angeles to face the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow. Since Kobe Bryant is now in charge of shutting down the opposition’s best player, then we should get to see him on guarding Lebron. That should be fun.
