Quarter by Quarter observations

First Quarter

 Just when you thought the Thunder was going to pull away and really extend the lead they would commit easy turnovers. Durant tries to hand it off to Westbrook but instead hands it to Harris. Westbrook just tries to pass it down low without looking, sends it straight to Yi. Harden gets in the game and goes straight to the rack twice to force terrible shots. Harden also passes up a wide open Ibaka, who would have had an uncontested 9 foot shot. The Thunder really needed to get a big lead and take the energy out of this one early on, the Nets may not be great but if you let them hang around bad things can happen.

Score to end the Quarter 32-27 Thunder

Second Quarter

The Thunder keep letting the Nets hang around. Yi Jianlian just had a great quarter and really kept the Nets in the game. Krstic can't stay with him, neither can Collison, Green was doing well against him but he has picked up some foolish fouls and can't stay on the court. Westbrook made a good play passing the ball ahead to Durant for the foul line buzzer beater instead of heaving a half court shot. Harden is not playing well tonight, he is 0-4 with 1 rebound, 1 steal, and 1 turnover. Despite the fact that he only has 1 recorded turnover he has forced several poor shots and continues to try and drive the lane but can't finish.

Score to finish the half 61-55 Thunder

Half

The Thunder are shooting 61% compared to the Nets 51%, they also have taken 4 more shots than the Nets. The Thunder lead by 6 but so far they have disappointed, the Nets are the worst team in the NBA and the Thunder only lead by 6 at the half. This is one of the few teams that the Thunder should blow out and it seems like they are letting the Nets hang around. The Thunder need to put the Nets away in the third quarter or they could be in for a fight in the fourth with an inspired team at home. Krstic, Collison, and Ibaka are doing a good job on Lopez but not so good against Yi. Green needs to stay on the court and keep Yi under wraps. They also need to cut out the easy turnovers and take care of the basketball, the Nets may be 2-28 but any team can beat you if you keep giving them chances.

Third Quarter

 KD and Krstic are having great games, KD has 34 points on 16 shots, Krstic has 19 points on 9 shots. Harden still has yet to hit a shot, he is 0-6 and has looked awful all night long. The Thunder went 5-16 in the third dropping their shooting percent from 61 to 52 at the same time the Thunder got to the line 14 times and sank 13 of them to keep the Thunder ahead of the Nets. The Nets shot 9-20 in the quarter led by Yi who was 4-8. The Nets are hanging around a look like they may have a chance at this one if the Thunder don't keep the pressure up.

Score to finish the Quarter 84-76 Thunder

Fourth Quarter

And finally the Thunder pull away, The Thunder got busy defensively and on the glass to finish the Nets. They held the Nets to 13 points in the quarter and held them to 2 points for a 6 minute stretch in the middle of the fourth. Going into the quarter the Nets and Thunder were even in total rebounds but the Thunder got active on the glass in the fourth and finished with a 10 rebound advantage. Collison, Ibaka, Krstic, and Harden each got multiple rebounds in the fourth and really pushed the Thunder to the win tonight. Harden finished the night 0-10.

Score to finish the Game 105-89 Thunder

The Good and The Bad individually

The Good

Kevin Durant

40 points on 22 shots is great, normally for a scorer to be considered efficient he need to average 1.5 points per shot, KD almost hit 2 points a shot. He also added 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. KD had a couple of bad turnovers early in the game but did a better job of protecting the ball later in the game. The Thunder in general did a better job after turning the ball over 6 times in the first they finished with 13.

Nenad Krstic

Someone is feeling the heat from Serge Ibaka. In his return to New Jersey Krstic also posted an excellent efficient night. He had 19 points on 9 shots at one point but finished with 3 misses to go 7-12. Krstic also added 7 rebounds, a steal, and 2 blocks.This performance on the heels of his 6-10 night against Charlotte has people reconsidering the wisdom of sitting him to start Ibaka.

The Bad

James Harden, you can't go 0-10 on a night that Krstic is 7-12, Durant is 15-22, Collison is 5-7, and Ibaka is 2-3. That's a lot of missed shots that could have been passed to someone with a better look. Harden continued to drive the lane and force up poor shots over Lopez and Yi the Nets two 7 foot monsters. Green was good in defense of Yi but had foul issues early that limited his minutes.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment