In a rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals match-up, MVP Steph Curry got the better of Rockets star James Harden as the Warriors maintained their winning start. “Just being able to play a double-overtime game, and just getting used to that again”. The only matchup on Friday night between two 2-0 teams ended with Detroit staying unbeaten on the back of a monster double-double from Andre Drummond, who notched 20 points and 20 rebounds for a 98-94 overtime win. Rookie Emmanual Mudiay will easily encounter his toughest task this season in trying to contain Russell Westbrook, but unfortunately for Mudiay, it will just end up as a nasty learning experience.
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Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant combined for 91 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder trumped the Orlando Magic in National Basketball Association action.
Cavs superstar LeBron James added 29 points in the win over his former team.
Dwyane Wade led Miami with 25 points while Chris Bosh scored 16.
I thought Skiles was a little off base with the harshness of his criticism, considering there were two Magic players fairly close to Westbrook’s heave.
“That shows a lot of guts on our end”, Durant said. It allowed the Nuggets to take an early 17-16 lead. It’s clear the Durant and Westbrook have faith in him, (it looked like Durant called a clear out for Waiters early in the first overtime) but Morrow needs to be the one ending games.
Marcus Morris led the Pistons with 26 points, while Jimmy Butler was the Bulls’ top-scorer with 23.
DENVER – Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 14 rebounds and Minnesota Timberwolves spoiled Denver’s home opener. They have been playing with heavy hearts since coach Flip Saunders died Sunday after complications from Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Malone on Denver’s third quarter collapse: “For whatever reason, we came out in that third quarter and got our butts kicked”.
Kent Bazemore led Atlanta with 19 points and Paul Millsap and Al Horford each had 18.
The Magic came up empty on two attempts to tie the score in the waning seconds of the second overtime, when Durant blocked three-point attempts by Evan Fournier and Oladipo. Eight points and four rebounds may not seem like much, but he looked active and made good decisions. Bryant had just 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field.
Ramon Sessions scored 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as the explosive offense that coach Randy Wittman envisioned for his team finally materialized. Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 25 points.
In Philadelphia, Derrick Favors had 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead Utah past the 76ers. Augustin had 12 points.
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Serge Ibaka had eight points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder and reserve forward Enes Kanter had 10 points, including nine in the final period, when he sparked a late Thunder rally. Kobe Bryant had 13 points in 22 minutes. Firstly, he is one of the top three players in the world right now, and his skill set in known throughout the league (I won’t go into detail) – however, I think there will be an extra something this year, and that has been brought about thanks to his previous season.
