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Oklahoma City posters the Suns, 102-90

by Royce Young on January 14, 2013 at 11:39 pm 280 Comments

Forget Kevin Durant not being nice. I’m not so sure he’s actually part of our species anymore.

A night after carrying the Thunder to a gritty win in Portland, KD played 43 minutes tonight in Phoenix, scored 41 points, had five rebounds, two assists, two blocks, no turnovers and one murder. Because he murdered Marcin Gortat. I think we can all agree: Kevin Durant appears to be unfriendly while basketballing on the basketball court.

The Thunder beat the Suns 102-90 tonight completing a really nice back-to-back sweep, which was impressive. Also impressive: To go with Durant’s 41, Russell Westbrook added 36, meaning OKC’s superduo combined for 77 of the Thunder’s 102. Oh, let me top that: The Thunder scored 51 points in the second half. Westbrook and Durant combined for 47 of those points.

Westbrook and Durant overall, combined: 77 points on 29-54 shooting, 13 rebounds, seven assists and one turnover.

KD and Russ postered the box score tonight. Keep Reading…

Thunder vs. Suns: Pregame Primer

by Royce Young on January 14, 2013 at 3:51 pm 1,862 Comments

vs.

OKC Thunder (29-8, 11-5 road) at Phoenix Suns (13-26, 10-9 home)

TV: FSOK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 112.8 (1st), Suns– 103.3 (19th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.0 (6th), Suns – 107.8 (26th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.5 (8th), Suns – 91.8 (14th)

View from the enemy: Valley of the Suns

Considering what a tough, gritty, physical challenge it was to come out on top against the Blazers last night, this is a dangerous back-to-back. The Suns aren’t very good, but they’re at least mediocre at home. And the Thunder could be shorthanded again (both Ibaka and Thabo are game-time decisions) while also playing with heavy legs. Keep Reading…

Thunder Player Power Rankings: Rebounding

by Royce Young on January 14, 2013 at 12:32 pm 254 Comments

Sam Forenich/NBAE/Getty Images

The week in review: three wins and a loss. But the loss, man oh man, the loss.

Losing to the Wizards was really bad, but to the Thunder’s credit, they’ve bounced back and won their last three games. All you can do when you lose a game you shouldn’t.

Rankings: Keep Reading…

Monday Bolts – 1.14.13

by Royce Young on January 14, 2013 at 9:43 am 263 Comments

Dave of Blazersedge: “Meanwhile the Thunder played great defense on the other end. You cannot say enough about this. At times this season we’ve said the Blazers have played “great”. Oklahoma City showed tonight that the correct definition there was, “great, for Portland”. If you want to see truly great, watch what the Thunder–the best offensive team in the league–did to the Blazers on the defensive end tonight. The few open looks the Blazers got came from deep. Those shots almost always missed.”

Celtics Blog on Perk criticism: “We all knew his limitations in Boston, but we knew that he was really good at things that you need a center to be really good at … So while Perkins isn’t going to fill a stat sheet or even look marginally comfortable handling a basketball, he’s the kind of guy that you can and should be able to win with. And if the OKC faithful can’t see that, then I’d be happy to take him back.” Keep Reading…

Thunder gut one out in Portland, 87-83

by Royce Young on January 13, 2013 at 11:27 pm 443 Comments

BOX SCORE

For the first time in 80 games, the Thunder trotted out a different starting five tonight in Portland. No Thabo Sefolosha (neck strain), no Serge Ibaka (chest contusion). It was set to be an uphill battle for Oklahoma City, taking on a Blazers team that was 13-4 at home (including nine straight wins) without two starters.

And to make it even more uphill: Russell Westbrook shot 5-of-21 and Kevin Martin went 1-of-8, including 0-of-5 from 3.

Yet the Thunder still won. Somehow.

Oh wait, here’s how: Because Kevin Durant. Keep Reading…

Thunder vs. Trail Blazers: Pregame Primer

by Royce Young on January 13, 2013 at 5:33 pm 2,667 Comments

vs.

OKC Thunder (28-8, 10-5 road) at Portland Trail Blazers (20-16, 13-4 home)

TV: FSOK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 113.2 (1st), Blazers– 105.2 (13th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.3 (8th), Blazers – 107.5 (25th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.6 (8th), Blazers – 90.8 (23rd)

View from the enemy: Portland Roundball Society

UPDATE: Serge Ibaka is out tonight (chest contusion) so Nick Collison will start in his place.

Danger, Thunder. Danger. This isn’t the same Blazers team you easily beat the second game of the season. This is a young, intense, fiery and talented team that is building bunches of confidence. Their home record is one of the best in the league at 13-4 and they’ve proven they can beat the best of the best in the Rose Garden as they took down the Heat there a couple days ago. Keep Reading…

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Zero Dark Thunder

by Royce Young on January 12, 2013 at 11:03 am 1,841 Comments

Happy weekend. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Shine on.

Russell Westbrook is pretty good.

KD and the Thunder steamroll the Lakers, 116-101

by Royce Young on January 12, 2013 at 12:44 am 264 Comments

BOX SCORE

I think we learned two things tonight that we probably already kind of knew:

1) The Lakers genuinely aren’t very good, especially without Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol.

2) The Thunder are genuinely very good, especially with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

Other than a brief 11-0 run to finish the first quarter, this thing was a straight punking. Kevin Durant turned Staples Center into Rucker Park for a while, scoring a season-high 42 on 16-25 shooting. Russell Westbrook had 27, 10 assists and seven rebounds. The Thunder shot 50.6 percent from the floor and held the Lakers to 39.8 percent. KD was a +35. Westbrook a +28. As long as one of those two were on the floor tonight, the Lakers had about as much chance of staying close as Hasheem Thabeet has touching his toes. Keep Reading…

OKC Thunder (29-8, 11-5 road) at Phoenix Suns (13-26, 10-9 home)

OKC Thunder (28-8, 10-5 road) at Portland Trail Blazers (20-16, 13-4 home)

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