Quarter by Quarter observations

First Quarter

 Just when you thought it couldn't get any better KD goes for 15 points on 5 shots. That's 3 points per shot attempted, crazy. Green has not been a big part of the quarter, I thought with the slower Jeffries guarding him the Thunder would try to get Green to blow by him to the basket. So far it appears that Westbrook and Durant have better matchups. Westbrook is 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from the line for 10 points 2 rebounds and a steal. Collison also has been more aggressive down low. The Lee matchup is one of the few that he is not on the short end of the stick in. Green has done a good job down low on Lee. With Jeffries, who is more of a true center, in the game Krstic is playing Jeffries and Green is on Lee. Right now Lee is 3-8 but does have 5 rebounds.

Score to end the Quarter 34-24 Thunder

Second Quarter

With Lee struggling the Knicks have gone to Nate Robinson and Jonathan Bender. When Bender is one of your primary scorers you have issues and are not going to be scoring much. Robinson put up a lot of shots but only went 2-6 for the quarter. The Knicks went 4-9 from three in the quarter and really looked like they were going to make a run but the Thunder answered back with 3 threes of their own. Westbrook is having a great game 5-5 for 12, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers.

Score to finish the half 63-47 Thunder

Half

 The Thunder have built their lead on solid defense and some hot shooting. Who would have predicted Westbrook would lead the way shooting just a shade over 99%. KD is contributing at an even higher rate due to the 12 free throws he has taken in just the first half. In the second half Westbrook will miss some shots but as long as he continues to create and makes around 30% of his remaining shots the Thunder will be just fine. Collison and Green continue to dominate David Lee down low, Lee is 4-12 with 7 rebounds. The stat that is most impressive to me is the fact that the Thunder only have 5 turnovers for the half. They have been averaging about 5 a quarter for the past couple of games so to cut it in half essentially is impressive and a good sign.

Third Quarter

Duhon and Gallinari are 0-14 combined. Lee continues to try and force shots up, another 1-6 quarter later and Lee is now 5-18. Lee may have another double double but really he hurt his team tonight taking all those shots, although when Gallinari is not on and Duhon is not on the Knicks start running out of options. Going 5-22 from three also has hurt the Knicks chances tonight. The Thunder meanwhile are shooting 48.5% from the field. Durant continues to score efficiently he has 23 on 11 shots, his night is probably almost done unless the Knicks make a run in the fourth. Westbrook has played a great efficient game tonight, he has gone 7-11 for 17 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers. The Thunder returned to their 5 turnover a quarter average. The Thunder are not really playing with a lot of energy but since they are firmly in control so it really doesn't matter.

Score to finish the Quarter 84-62 Thunder

Fourth Quarter

The Thunder spent the first half of this quarter at least pretending to care with Durant playing with Maynor, Harden, Ibaka, and Collison. Once Mullens came in for Collison it was pretty much a series of post up plays for Mullens and Ibaka. Mullens posts up tries to do something, Ibaka posts up tries to do something. Unfortunately neither were particularly effective.

Score to finish the Game 106-88 Thunder

The Good and The Bad individually 

The Good

Russell Westbrook

Westbrook had a great game 7-11 is a great shooting percent and he did a lot of damage from the elbow. As he gets more comfortable with that shot the defense will have to adjust to either stop that shot or stop the drive and against a team without a great shot blocker you almost have to sag back to stop the drive. He only had 5 assists but did not have a single turnover.

Kevin Durant

KD had 30 points on 8-14, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, 2 blocks, and only 2 turnovers. That is about as complete a game as you can ask for. It would have been nice to see Durant get to 40 for the second straight game but the important thing was to get the win.

The Bad

Ibaka and Mullens each got multiple post up tries late in the fourth quarter tonight. Neither one was able to do much with the opportunity. It was a chance to practice down low in a game situation but the results were not pretty. Ibaka even got blocked on a dunk that if he had gone up with some intensity he should have flushed. All in all the fourth quarter was marked by a lack of intensity even among the players that usually don't get extended minutes.

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