An initial report from Bleacher Report hinted that Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant could be returning soon, and such did happen on the game against the Utah Jazz last Monday. Durant is averaging 28.1 points and 7.3 rebounds through eight games this season.
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That, and the fact that the Thunder were eviscerating the Washington Wizards at the time of this writing, should give Thunder fans a little bit of optimism that, if the injury is minor, the Thunder should be fine in his absence. Dallas committed seven of them in the first 12 minutes alone, and the Thunder turned those chances into 10 points.
There are additional expectations that arise when Durant’s healthy-chief among them is our common understanding that the Oklahoma City Thunder will dominate most opponents.
The analytics tells us that this was an addition by subtraction, but that may be unfair to Enes who did play hard in a Jazz uniform. In his nine games he’s shooting 52.4 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from deep.
Tyler Johnson and Josh McRoberts have also contributed net-positive minutes (plus-8.0 and plus-7.6 on the year, respectively) by performing on the defensive end. The margin got as high as 34 points in the final period.
Oklahoma Thunder’s Kevin Durant warms up before an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Monday, November 23, 2015, in Salt Lake City.
Guard led the Mavericks (9-5) with 20 points and six assists.
“Come on man, he just got into the Hall of Fame”, Anthony said of Durant.
Kevin Durant was a surprise starter against Utah tonight after missing time with a hamstring injury, which has meant nothing but bad things for the Jazz. “I respect the guys and I think they helped me out a lot in my career.”… “We all still have to get better defensively, but I like the effort that we displayed out on the floor tonight”. LeBron James had 15 points and 13 assists. I think it’s a combination of that we’re not all on the same page, and also that they have two of the best players in the world. The Thunder had the lead cut to 93-90 with 12.7 seconds to play, but their chance to force overtime rimmed out with a Waiters 3-point attempt. Pachulia missed a pair of free throws and Ibaka made the Mavs pay when he hit a mini-hook shot.
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On a pass from Westbrook, guard Dion Waiters buried a corner 3-pointer to cut the lead down to 108-107. I really like Augustin’s ability to shoot off the catch.
