Owner Real Deal Posted December 24, 2011 Owner Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 TIME: 8:00 PM ET TV: NBALP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder keep showing they know how to finish a year in style. Westbrook scored 18 points, Daequan Cook hit four 3-pointers in quick succession to help Oklahoma City pull away in the first half and the Thunder led wire to wire in a 107-97 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night. The Thunder are perfect in four New Year's Eve home games that have become a tradition since the franchise moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City. "You've got to start the new year with a win," Westbrook said. "Hopefully, we can keep this going." At 5-0, Oklahoma City is also off to the franchise's best start since it won the first six games of the 1998-99 season -- the last time the NBA schedule was shortened because of a lockout. Behind the strong start has been a lockdown defense that has held each of the first five opponents to under 45 percent shooting. The Suns made 39.8 percent, becoming the third opponent to make less than 40 percent. It's the first time in 30 years Oklahoma City's franchise has held three of its first five opponents under 40 percent from the field. "We're playing hard, everybody's engaging on the defensive end and helping each other," said Thabo Sefolosha, who scored 12 points. "It's a big part of our success right now." Two nights after his buzzer-beater against Dallas, Kevin Durant had only 12 points in his bid to become the first player since Michael Jordan a quarter-century earlier to score at least 30 in the first five games of a season. Hakim Warrick and rookie Markieff Morris had 15 points apiece for the Suns, who continued a dreadful offensive start despite scoring their most points yet this season. "We have not been able to do a lot of the stuff that we anticipated doing," coach Alvin Gentry said before the game. "Obviously, we've got some of the core guys but you're talking about second-unit guys and things like that. We haven't been able to do nearly as much as we would like to. "From a playbook standpoint, we've probably put a third in as opposed to what we would have done in a normal situation." http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=311231025 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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