Quarter by Quarter observations

First Quarter

 Early in the first the Hornets are attacking the Thunder down low they have gone to David West on the first three possessions of the game, Green is playing solid defense and has contested each of the three shots well. Lots of turnovers by the Thunder early, right now Westbrook has 2 Sefolosha, Durant, and Collison each have 1. The Hornets have opened up an eight point lead off the lack of Thunder offense. Westbrook is having trouble staying with Paul, he is getting easy open shots and is having no problem knocking them down. Peja Stojakovic is killing the Hornets right now he is 1-5 all 5 from downtown. The Thunder are playing pretty good defense as a team. The one area they need to improve is on screen and rolls for Paul. Paul was getting anywhere he wanted with wide open looks, I don't know why they went away from that part of their game.

Score to end the Quarter 23-23 Tied

Second Quarter

Welcome to the quarter Jeff Green saved. Green took the role of primary scorer in the quarter going 4-9 for 8 points. Jeff actually shot 4-6 driving the lane but took 3 long distance three point shots. With the difficulty the Thunder have had finding a secondary scorer to see Green step up and score in the paint was a welcome sight. The Thunder are not playing particularly well on the defensive side of the ball, but are winning the rebound battle. They currently have 5 offensive rebounds compared to 2 for the Hornets. The Thunder did a good job of cutting down on the turnovers this quarter as well, they went from 5 in the first to 2 in the second.

Score to finish the half 46-48 Hornets

Half

 In the second quarter Chris Paul was largely a nonfactor due to some good defense by Sefolosha and Maynor, more of that would be good. The Thunder can't allow the Hornets to continue to shoot 54%. This is shaping up the same way the Thunder just beat the Bulls, hot shooting trumps all. The Thunder need to pick up the defense in the second half if they are going to win.

Third Quarter

Another quarter down and for now the Thunder have a two point lead. The Thunder have not tightened the clamps defensively and will probably need to in the fourth quarter or its going to come down to the wire. The Thunder have a big advantage on the offensive glass and defensive glass. The Hornets are shooting 41% from three, which isn't a big deal if they shoot 4-5 but the Hornets have shot 17 three pointers and made 7 for 21 points.

Score to finish the Quarter 81-79 Thunder

Fourth Quarter

This was one of the worst called games I have seen so far. I understand letting them play but when Westbrook gets slammed at midcourt and there isn't a call, meanwhile Chris Paul trips over his own shoelace and it's got to be a foul right. Ridiculous is the only word to describe the officiating tonight. The Thunder had some chances but ultimately didn't play very well and came up short in the end. Thabo did an excellent job on Paul as did Maynor, Green and Westbrook not so much. In the end this was almost the same game the Thunder played against the Bulls only in reverse. The Thunder got more shots and killed the Hornets on the glass both offensive and defensive but in the end hot shooting carried the Hornets through to victory.

Score to finish the Game 97-92 Hornets

The Good and The Bad individually

The Good

Jeff Green

20 points on 8-15 shooting is good. Green hit some threes for the first time in a while it seems, but he was at his best when he was attacking the basket. Green drove the lane, put up tough shots, and didn't get a call all night. He has Songaila practically throwing him to the deck and it's just a play on. Terrible terrible terrible. What would he have done given a fair shake? Despite the utter lack of competentcy in the officiating arena Green was efficient tonight but needs to hit more than 50% of his free throws.

Kevin Durant

The streak is broken, tonight KD only had 4 turnovers. I know 4 turnovers is not exactly what we are looking for but it's better than 5. KD was also his normal ultra efficient self he had 27 points on 15 shots. That's not quite 2 points per shot but it's a solid 1.8. Keep that up and we will win more than we lose.

The Bad

Thabo played great defense the entire game. I really didn't give him enough credit earlier but suffice to say he did an excellent job on Paul for the majority of his minutes. However that doesn't excuse his 1-5 night. Collison was largely invisible in his 18 minutes tonight, he missed both shots he took and pulled down 7 rebounds but didn't take a charge and didn't do such a good job on West that it made a difference.

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