Led by KD’s quietly dominant 14 points and 10 first half rebounds and Russell Westbrook’s loud 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists before the break, OKC burst out to 68-50 halftime lead.
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Carmelo Anthony starred for the Knicks as he scored 23 points to go with four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Then, on a drive to the basket late in the second quarter, he landed awkwardly and pulled up grabbing at his left hamstring.
Injuries to Bradley Beal (shoulder) and then to Durant kind of killed the excitement between this matchup that was supposed to be a heated duel.
Durant, second in the National Basketball Association in scoring entering the night, had 14 points and 10 rebounds in the first half.
Early word on Durant’s injury is a mild hamstring strain. “I’ll see what it’s looking like after that”. Fifty-fifty balls, the dirty stuff – we don’t get dirty, and that’s on me. Hassan Whiteside also doubled up on 19 points and 15 rebounds.
“Well, it looked like we did not believe that we could win to me”, Wizards coach Randy Wittman bluntly stated following Washington’s largest loss of the season. Washington got the deficit down to seven, but could not stop the Thunder offensively or convert on chip shot field goal attempts.
Mo Williams scored 29 points for the Cavaliers, who haven’t lost since the season opener in Chicago. Me, I feel, is you should focus on who you have on your team. They’re talking about being a defensive team, but it’s not what the outcome is so far on the floor. “You score 100 points in this league, you think you can win those games, but if you’re giving up nearly 130, you have no chance”. “He’s anxious about his OKC team and me and Brad and the other 13 guys on the team, we’re anxious about the Washington Wizards”.
LeBron James did LeBron James things in the fourth quarter, and the Jazz had no answers. “We let teams take it to us the last three games”.
Washington is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games. A transformative player like Durant would take this duo and this franchise to another level.
Waiters’ 3-pointer gave Oklahoma City its largest lead at 104-75 before the sellout crowd.
Durant is a native of Washington, D.C., and the Wizards will try hard to pursue the superstar.
The public fawning over Durant is nothing new. In short, Wizards fans should fully expect the hometown hero to put up big numbers against their favorite team.
Asked whether he heard the fans booing, Durant laughed. Mild applause broke out when the All-Star forward sank back-to-back 3-pointers in the opening period. The Thunder lead only widened from there. Actually, this was another problem: the Wizards seemed so concerned about ball security, having averaged almost five turnovers per quarter this season, that they couldn’t find a rhythm on offense and settled for awkward jumpers.
The Oklahoma City Thunder (4-3) are coming from a 124-103 win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
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For the first time at home, Kelly Oubre Jr. saw playing time off the bench and he was rewarding the home town fans. The Thunder will head home and prepare for the Philadelphia 76ers as they play them Friday night at 8:00 PM EST. Washington is off until Saturday when the Orlando Magic visit.
