Quarter by Quarter observations

First Quarter

Westbrook makes a great pass; he got Howard to commit to the block and passed it off to Krstic for the bucket.

Thabo smooth from three, he is really shooting a lot better this year. He is over .500 from the field and better from three than from two.

Good defense by Krstic down low.

KD is going to the Mason move a little too much and refs just aren't biting. Against Houston he wasn't getting the call and that has carried over to tonights game.

Krstic has hit his first two shots, which bodes well for the thunder if they are going to keep Howard out of the paint.

So far on three possessions that have gone to Howard we have Krstic playing good defense on the first two with a make and a miss and on the third Krstic just allowed Howard to get too deep and was forced to foul

Krstic is clearly the focus of the Thunder early on and it is going well

KD with the steal and gets fouled on the finish makes both free throws

Thabo with the steal and gets fouled on the run out.

Howard is coming out to challenge Krstic further from the rim, which should open up the lane for Westbrook.

Krstic again with good defense on Howard forces him out wide and Howard can't find the distance.

Krstic is hitting from everywhere when he catches and shoots in rhythm, when he catches and hesitates his shot looks worse and probably isn't going in.

Green makes a great up and under move but can't get the shot to fall.

Krstic is headed out, he has done a great job so far but he is holding his wrist and is headed back to the locker room.

Etan is doing a good job of denying Howard his spot on the low block, both he and Krstic are really working to deny Howard his spot on the block.

Right now Orlando's outside shooters are ice cold so the Thunder is doubling Howard in the low post when he catches the ball

Thomas can't handle the pass from Westbrook but he had the open lane to the basket when Howard moved to stop Westbrook's penetration.

Ollie makes a nice shot as the shot clock expires. Don't tell anyone I said something nice about him, but he is having a pretty good game.

The Thunder did not get down early for the first time in the past two games, and right now they are up 4.

Livingston makes the hard pass to Etan and he can't handle it.

Harden with the steal, the Thunder are playing some pretty good team defense. This new system they are using has really paid dividends already, I don't know if this is Brook's system or not but it is working.

Right now the Thunder have three steals to zero for the Magic

Krstic is coming back to the bench with tape on his pinky, Brian Davis said he dislocated his pinky, hope this doesn't affect his shooting.

Orlando is not shooting well from the line. They are now 10 of 16 from charity. 

Score to end the Quarter 25-23 Magic

Second Quarter

 Starting out the second quarter Ollie, Harden, Livingston, Thabo, and Thomas

The Thunder are struggling to find shots in the absence of a dynamic playmaker. Green, Westbrook, and Durant are all on the bench.

Thomas picks up another foul that gives him three, with Krstic an unknown at this point and Howard not even in the game the Thunder need Thomas to save his fouls for the big ugly, and in comes Collison. When Howard comes back in I expect we will see Krstic again.

Durant also comes back in and Collison hits him off the curl and he elevates to hit the shot. Maybe it is just moving without the ball or maybe Durant is better able to make use of the screens but that ability to get an open shot is missing when Westbrook, Green, and Durant are not in the game.

Westbrook hits the step back jumper off the screen from Durant. Westbrook continues to impress me with the improvement with his shooting.

KD is hot right now and is cutting into this Orlando lead. He again elevates and hits a shot this time in the corner from behind the basket.

Westbrook drains a three and we are within one. And good defense forces the bad shot but Gortat and the thunder take the lead on the three from KD.

Sefolosha takes a three and beats the shot clock.

Collison is again playing a good game defensively.

Howard is back in the game working against Collison, I am surprised they are not making a real effort to get him the ball down low against Collison.

Krstic is back in and Howard is working on him, Krstic does a good job of denying him his spot and so he tries backing Krstic down and is forced to throw it back out. Howard was attempting to get them to repost him but the shot clock was too low.

Thabo drains another three; he is 3-3 and looking good.

KD with the steal and slam, the Thunder is playing good defense so far this game.

Howard backs Krstic down and scores over him as KD comes over to help. Krstic is still performing admirably in defending Howard.

Green is now on Howard and is really fighting well in the low post. He forces Howard into the baseline, but Bavetta calls a force out foul on Green. Not real sure how that foul works but it puts Howard on the line.

Krstic drains the long two; I wonder if he has three point range.

Westbrook wide an excellent offensive rebound but fouls Nelson on the way to the rack.

KD goes up and scores over Pietrus, he is making the shots we all grew accustomed to seeing him make all of last year.

Score to finish the half 53-44 Thunder

Half

Russell "Hustle" Westbrook 6 assists and only 2 turns. Kevin "Durantula" Durant 15 points 2 steals and 3 assists. Nenad "Insert Nickname Here(my wife goes with Nads)" Krstic 5-9 10 points. Thabo 3-3 from three, with 5 rebounds. All in all the Thunder are playing well, about as well as they have this year. The one lull came early in the second quarter when Ollie, Livingston, Harden, Thomas, and Thabo were in, the movement was lacking and it just seemed like no one could get an open shot. I was hoping Harden would step up and make a play but next possession Brooks put Durant back in and he started making plays. As good as the Thunder have been Orlando has not been terrible, they are 1-7 from three including JJ Reddick's 0-4. Coming into this game Reddick had been the one steady shooter among the stable that is the Orlando three point corps, so I guess he was "due" but he has been getting pretty good looks. Howard has 15 points and 6 rebounds but has been limited by some pretty good defense by Krstic. Coming into this game I never would have thought I would be typing those words. I thought Brooks would start Thomas and even he would be hard pressed to keep Howard under wraps, but Krstic has really done a good job on Superman so far. I know 15 and 6 in a half of action would normally not be considered a good effort but considering how Howard has ripped up OKC in the past and what he is capable of this has been exactly that, a good effort. Expect this one to come down to the end and let's see how KD handles the pressure.

Third Quarter

Nelson shoots the three, great defense by Green and Westbrook forces the shot long.

KD gets the pass and tries to send it ahead to Thabo but Barnes intercepts it, as he is running out of bounds he tosses it back and Krstic is right there to receive the ball. Krstic passes to Durant and he rattles the three down.

Green gets a block on Bass.

Krstic is still playing good defense on Howard denying him his spot on the low post.

Westbrook knocks down another three off the penetration of KD.

Howard and Gortat are now on the court together.

 Collison with a great hustle play to save the possession, he then takes Gortat down low and makes the short jump hook.

Thabo with the steal, great team defense that possession.

Sefolosha with a block.

It hard to believe the Thunder are up by 22 right now.

Thabo has a double double 12 points and 10 rebounds, the Thunder have had a balanced scoring effort tonight Thabo, Durant, Krstic, and Westbrook all are in double digits. Jeff Green only has 6 points but he is shooting 3-5.

Score to finish the Quarter 79-57 Thunder

Fourth Quarter

Now is a good time to get Serge in the game I think. Let him play a little against Howard the lead is 24, if you play him now and they start to get close you can always put Krstic and Thomas back in.

Pietrus reads the play and intercepts the pass from Westbrook for Thomas and Collison gets the ball right back taking the charge from Howard.

With Howard out of the game Westbrook is able to drive the lane and gets the foul.

Green knocks down the three from the corner.

The Magic just aren't, shooting well tonight and it shows they are now 30 points down and KD gets the steal and lays it in to make the lead 32.

Orlando pretty much has waved the white flag with about 6 minutes remaining.

Score to finish the Game 102-74 Thunder

The Good and The Bad individually

The Good

Russell Westbrook

A double double is always good; Westbrook had been struggling with turnovers and assists but really did a very good job tonight making good passes. He also went 3-4 from three, which considering the problems he had last year shooting is very encouraging.

Kevin Durant

28 points and 3 steals a good balanced game, he also got some much needed rest he only played 32 minutes. Incidentally because I am sure someone cares +35.

Thabo Sefolosha

This was another good game from the defensive leader of this team. While the Magic really don't have a Kobe or Roy he played good team defense, came up with 2 steals and had 9 defensive rebounds. The big improvement and really the area he had the biggest impact on this game was strangely enough on the offensive side. Thabo shot 4-6 including 3-3 from three and 2-2 from the line. His first double double of the year helped put the Thunder on the high side at the end of this game.

Nenad Krstic

Ladies and Gentlemen your Thunder MVP. How can he be MVP with only 14 points on 7-12 and 3 rebounds, well in a word defense. The defense played by both Krstic and Thomas was good but to see Krstic fight for position on defense and pull Howard out of his comfort zone on offense makes him the MVP for this game.

The Bad

Russell Westbrook had 10 assists with only two turnovers about halfway through the third quarter he finished with five which cut his assist to turnover ratio from 5:1 to 2:1. Orlando was down 20 the entire fourth quarter and yet we saw no Serge Ibaka, the mystery man known as Chewie, Sir Iblocka, Chewblocka, and Iblocka did not get into the game.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment