Jazzercide
If you’re a game and a half behind the Jazz, beating the Jazz has to be high on your to-do list. This is not necessarily the easiest thing to do: for instance, the Thunder hit 14 of 17 from the floor in the third quarter, but it increased their lead by only a single point. What’s more, putting the lean on Utah’s fearsome points-in-the-paint machine merely induced the Jazz to take outside shots; they went 11-19 from the three-point line. Rookie shooting guard Wesley Matthews got six of those treys, en route to a team high (and career high) 29 points. But Oklahoma City made it three-for-three against Utah, winning 119-111 at the Ford and closing to within half a game of fourth place in the West.
This was billed as a battle of the point guards, and both Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook acquitted themselves admirably: Williams picked up 27 points and served up 14 assists before fouling out late, and Westbrook had 30 points and 11 dimes. (Former Jazzman Eric Maynor, now backing up Westbrook, had six points and five rebounds in ten minutes; Ronnie Price, who usually works behind Williams, was out with a bruised wrist.) Other injuries bedeviled the Jazz: both Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko were forced to sit after being roughed up Friday at Milwaukee.
But what really knocked Utah’s collective hat in the creek was the Thunder offense: OKC shot a startling 60.3 percent from the floor, though treys were few and far between. (Rebounds were sparse: OKC 36, Utah 30.) All five starters hit double digits, and Kevin Durant hit twenty in the first half, finishing with 35. The Thunder were just okay at the stripe, 28 of 35, but the Jazz obligingly missed twelve out of 34.
I think it’s safe to say no one expected this team to win 41 games out of 82, let alone 41 out of 65. A finish of .500 or better is now guaranteed. On the other hand, .500 in the West doesn’t even guarantee you a playoff spot, so it helps that the next three games are against teams from the East; the Thunder is 19-6 against Eastern teams and 19-13 on the road, so let’s hope for a sweep. Besides, the Spurs will be waiting when the Thunder return home.
