It looks like Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks' decision to send James Harden back to the bench and start Daequan Cook is paying off. After scoring a nice win over their rivals to the south, the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City continued to roll with a big 101-94 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Thunder are in the middle of a long road run, and after a tough loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooks sent Harden back to his role as sixth man and the Thunder knocked off two of the teams they met in the 2010-11 postseason. Harden started against the Clippers due to the injury to Thabo Sefolosha but his lack of defense cost the Thunder a lot long range shots.
Sefolosha is the Thunder's best perimeter guard and is key to limiting opponents three-point opportunities. While Harden is a solid presence in the offensive game, he does not excel at guarding the perimeter. However, Cook is a master of the three and has served the team well in filling in the gap left since Sefolosha went down.
Dallas only hit 4-of-19 (21-percent) from beyond the arc and Memphis finished the game hitting only 4-of-13 (30-percent). The Grizzlies did not have a bad game, with both Marc Gasol (24) and Rudy Gay (23) shooting for over 20 points while three other players scored in double digits.
However, Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with a double-double, scoring 36 points while pulling down 10 rebounds while James Harden finished with 24 and Russell Westbrook scored 21. The Thunder only played nine players in the game.
Memphis did dominate the boards, out-rebounding Oklahoma City, 39-35. The Grizzlies also scored 24 second chance points with 15 offensive rebounds while the Thunder struggled in that area again with only 10 offensive boards and only nine second chance points. Kendrick Perkins had a really off game, with only one rebound and one block.
Luckily, when Durant shoots 58-percent from the field, you don't need that many offensive rebounds.
The Thunder are now 18-4 (.818), keeping their position as the best team in the NBA. Next up is the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and is an avid sports fan that has lived in Oklahoma for over 40 years. He used to religiously follow the Dallas Mavericks until Oklahoma City found a team to call their own.
Source: NBA.COM
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