Quarter by Quarter observations

First Quarter

 The Thunder came out ready to play, after the horrible first quarter they put up against the Lakers that's good news. First play of the game Jeff Green takes the ball down low and picks up an offensive foul against Okur. It was a pretty weak foul and it looks like Green will probably have a mismatch down low.  Serge Ibaka came in and looked good on his one offensive shot but was struggling on defense, he left Milsap to challenge Williams drive and although he forced Williams into a miss no one picked up Milsap and he got the slam. I don't know how you lose track of Milsap but it has happened several times now and he is making them pay.

Score to end the Quarter 28-25 Jazz

Second Quarter

Williams is just so good at getting the ball to Boozer at the spot he wants it is almost impossible to defend. The Thunder just had no answer for Boozer in the lane regardless of the score right now that's going to come back to hurt. After leading by as many as 7 the Jazz cut the lead to 1 to go into the half. Green had a great second quarter, he made two three pointers and got to the line 4 times. Harden came in and shot 4-5 and had great success driving the ball into the lane. Krstic also had some good shots and in general the Thunder moved the ball well.

Score to finish the half 53-52 Thunder

Half

This is where the game is won... right here in the halftime adjustments. Scotty has got to figure out what to do about Boozer because he is tearing apart this defense. Williams has been held to 4-9 shooting, which isn't a great defensive effort but he isn't tearing the Thunder apart. Milsap was on the bench most of the second quarter, once he comes in the Thunder will need to play better defense if they want to win. Ibaka picked up two fouls in only 4 minutes but did pick up 2 boards and 2 points on 1-1 shooting if he can play some defense without fouling he might be able to get back on the floor and contribute. If he can't Thomas did play well when he came in so the Thunder still have a lot of options down low if fouls become a problem. So pretty much stop Boozer stop the Jazz right now.

Third Quarter

 Key half time adjustments Scotty puts Sefolosha on Williams, with Sefolosha playing Williams so tough he is having difficulty getting the ball out to Boozer in the right spots. So in effect Sefolosha is eliminating Williams and Boozer at the same time. Westbrook, a good defender in his own right, is staying with the Jazz guards so the scoring burden has fallen to Milsap who is fighting with Jeff Green. All in all about as good as it could go for the Thunder and they are forcing the tough shots from the Jazz. The Jazz also went to a zone it kinda looked like a 3-2 zone and the Thunder got three easy shots to extend the lead to 7. From there it was just a matter of playing tough defense on Williams and Milsap and getting good shots, which the Thunder did to extend the lead to 18.

Score to finish the Quarter 84-68 Thunder

Fourth Quarter

Milsap continues to get cheap points, not saying that he isn't working for them but most of his points have been uncontested layups off cuts under the basket when the defense loses track of him. Jeff Green really played him tough on defense tonight although it probably won't show up in the boxscore. The Thunder are getting it done playing tough defense and getting good shots on offense. Everyone is contributing and the Thunder continue to move the ball well on offense. The one thing they have done this game that really impresses me is the ball movement the entire game, That has been the key to getting good shots all night long.

Score to finish the Game 104-94 Thunder

The Good and The Bad individually

The Good

Jeff Green

Green did a little of everything tonight he shot well, if not spectacular, going 6-13 from the field and 3-7 from three. He even threw a little post game in backing down Milsap and throwing in a little hook shot that was just sweet. He played solid defense most of the night, although on occasion he lost track of Milsap and allowed him to get open under the bucket. For the most part Green is turning into another guy that can guard four positions he spends time on points and power forwards and always plays solid defense. He isn't Thabo Sefolosha but he is dependable and sound no matter who he is guarding.

The Bench

Each of the four players who got minutes off the bench missed one shot, exactly one shot so combined they shot 11-15 for 24 points, solid production no matter how you slice it. Weaver looked great running the point he looked confident and his shot was much improved. He went 2-3 including 1-1 from three, had 3 blocks, and played pretty good defense during his 14 minutes. Harden 4-5 and 1-2 from three nice rebound game. Thomas went 2-3, had 2 rebounds, and a block. Ibaka was something of a disappointment I kept expecting a wow play, either a block or a slam or a monster rebound but it didn't happen he did have a nice offensive game 3-4 off short jumpers and did get 5 rebounds in 20 minutes.

The Bad

Westbrook and Krstic each shot 4-10 and Thabo shot 1-6. That's about as bad as it gets in this win. The Thunder did have a bad stretch in the fourth that looked like it might allow the Jazz back into the game but the Thunder picked up a couple of defensive stops and maintained the lead till the end. The game never really felt like the Jazz might come back just the Thunder had some bad possessions.

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