Three straight for the Thunder as they coast past the Bucks, 114-101

Royce Young -

BOX SCORE

There was a point in the third quarter of the Thunder’s 114-101 win over the Bucks, where Kendrick Perkins had taken as many shots as Kevin Durant.

I don’t know why I’m leading off with that — it just always cracks me up when that happens — but the general point is this: In his home debut, Durant scored 23 points, and only needed 11 shots to do it. That effortless, efficient scoring that he’s so good at? Yeah, still there. And so are the Thunder who put on an offensive clinic against one of the league’s better defensive teams to win their third straight game, and fifth out of six.

“We’ve still got some time, we’re still trying to work some things out,” Durant said. “I’m sure a lot of people are expecting us to be back to playoff-type of basketball right now. But we’re just like any other team, just trying to continue to build and keep getting better. There are going to be tough spots, but there also will be some great days as well.”

I don’t know that I’d count Tuesday as a great day, but considering how things went in November, I’m open to it. The Thunder aren’t just back to overwhelming opponents with length, athleticism and talent, but they’re back to being fun.

Russell Westbrook was just plain absurd, attacking with the kind of first step burst that makes your heart jump a little every time he takes off. Durant flowed flawlessly around the offense, getting what he wanted either in the post, on the perimeter or off the dribble. Serge Ibaka was perfect — literally — getting 15 on 5-of-5 shooting. And the bench put in another shift, this time headlined by Reggie Jackson’s 18, seven rebounds and three assists. A standard Thunder victory, one that’s been sorely missed the last month-plus.

The Bucks tried to attack the Thunder with smallball, keeping one big — either Zaza Pachulia or Larry Sanders — on the floor at all times. Not going to work against the Thunder, who had no issue in countering that with a versatile big in Ibaka plus Perk or Adams, or by playing Perry Jones, Durant and Ibaka together, which left the Bucks mismatched. The Thunder completely abused the Bucks on the boards, outrebounding them 54-31, with 15 on the offensive end.

Back to Durant, though, because seeing him back on the floor in OKC was pleasant. There wasn’t the same kind of raw buzz there was when Westbrook returned, but Durant certainly felt a bit more excitement. He’s still on a minute restriction and still is trying to shake off the rust that comes with sitting out six weeks. But if this is Durant not at his best, then it’s going to start getting real good soon.

“I’m just trying to feel the game out, and not worry about doing so much in so little time,” he said. “The last few games I’ve just gone out there to play, and whatever happens, happens. I saw some opportunities and I was aggressive to get to the rim and then kick it to the pain and get it out, or find a way to get all the way to the rim. Just trying to find a balance between the two and a little rhythm as well.”

The Thunder are now 8-13, which still isn’t pretty, but they’re only three games back of the Suns for eighth. With 61 games to play. Things are starting to click a bit and the adversity of November is revealing itself more and more. There’s a collective sigh of relief going around OKC right now as the Thunder are starting to look like themselves again.

“To get where they’re trying to go they’re going to need some key role players to step up, especially when you play the Spurs, the Clippers and teams like that,” said Bucks forward Jared Dudley. “They will be there at the end. Trust me, they’re going to get the final spot.”

NOTES:

  • Westbrook: 28 on 8-16 shooting, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 32 minutes. That dude is ridic-u-lous.
  • Westbrook now has 63 games of at least 25-5-5 since 2008. Next closest point guard in that span? Stephen Curry with 55. Chris Paul has 45. Only two players that have more than him: LeBron and KD.
  • First quarter defense has been pretty poor for the Thunder since KD’s return. The last three quarters have been mostly great (outside the Pelicans game).
  • At the end of the first quarter Pachulia missed a wide open easy layup and Perk let his teammates hear about it. It included the words “wake,” “the” and “up,” plus one other.
  • Some really intriguing lineups used tonight, maybe the most being Westbrook, Jackson, Jones, Durant and Ibaka. That’s some length, some athleticism and some more athleticism. And length.
  • Pretty poetic the Thunder’s garbage time lineup was basically their starting five in November.
  • No Nick Collison tonight. Reason was pretty simple: The Bucks only played one big all game, and the Thunder mostly matched that, unless it was Ibaka and Perk/Adams.
  • Scott Brooks: “We haven’t talked about the playoffs. It’s a long season. I have a calendar in my office — we have five more months of NBA basketball. After every win we’re not looking at it, ‘OK, we’re one game closer to the playoffs.’ And after every loss we’re not ‘Oh, world’s coming to an end.’ We’re not doing that. We’re focusing on doing our job every day knowing we have a lot of basketball left.”
  • Steven Adams didn’t have a rebound at halftime, meaning he’d had one total in 37 minutes. Then he went out and grabbed six in six second half minutes.
  • Perry Jones saw solid rotation minutes, and played decent. Hit a 3, had a dunk, pulled in some rebounds.
  • People keep dogging on Andre Roberson because so many fans only know how to watch the ball and evaluate if a shot went in or not, but that guy played some defense tonight.
  • Perk finished with nine boards in 22 minutes, seven on the offensive end. That’s the reason he put up nine shots tonight. He only hit two, though.
  • Somehow, Perk missing easy layups makes me like him even more. I have no idea why. It’s like, ah man Perk, that almost went in!
  • Durant on players wearing the “I Can’t Breathe” shirts: “I feel as though, I really take my hat off to guys, Derrick Rose who started it off and then the Brooklyn Nets and the Cavs, who are standing up for what they believe in. That’s what I’m always about even though it might make people uncomfortable, those guys stood up for what they believe in. I feel as though, as a citizen first, I was confused about the whole deal. And obviously you want to get more facts about everything, but I just want what’s right for our whole country. That’s all I’m about, having everybody united. So I’m going to try to do my part here individually as a man and grow from there.”
  • Jabari Parker has a whole lot of Melo in him. He loves those mid-post one dribble isolations. Good at them too.
  • Westbrook and Jackson together make some kind of hard to guard backcourt. That’s the thing about the Thunder’s revamped offense. It’s less about just empty passes to pump up the SportVU stats. It’s more about player movement and spacing. How many times did either Jackson or Westbrook catch on the wing with open space to attack into tonight? The answer is a lot.
  • KD shot a number of agitated looks at Jackson tonight. What makes KD unbelievable though, is he isolates it all and still cheers Jackson when he makes shots, still high fives him, still encourages him. Pretty obvious Durant didn’t like a lot of what was happening at times, but he can compartmentalize it all.
  • Durant on Westbrook’s putback: “That was amazing. He keeps amazing us every single day with his athleticism. But that was crazy.”
  • Durant on Jackson’s dunk: “Reggie’s is a little more like, I can’t explain it. It’s just so smooth and easy … Reggie just looks so smooth and easy. He dunks it so quick guys don’t know what he did.”
  • Jeremy Lamb cooled off a bit tonight, going 2-7 for six points. But he maintained his aggressiveness and still played solid defense.
  • Grant Jerrett was wearing the most non-NBA suit ever tonight. It looked like he was going to a job interview at Midfirst.
  • It truly angers me every time the Thunder play The Black Eyed Peas at the end of wins. And then follow it up with Takin’ Care of Business. It’s the most generic thing they could do.

Next up: Home against the Cavs on Thursday