I’d almost forgotten what it was like
So we win two games in November, after all. After falling behind by double figures early on — it was 54-43 at the half — the Thunder put some actual hurt on the Grizzlies: they caught up halfway through the fourth, and just kept on going. Final: Oklahoma City 111, Memphis 103.
Which is not to say that the Griz weren’t playing their hearts out. Rookie of the Year contender O. J. Mayo knocked down 30 points, nine of them on treys, and picked up seven rebounds. The other youngsters starting, Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol, got 16 points each. What’s more, Memphis outrebounded Oklahoma City, 36-30, and the Griz shot a stirring 57.7 percent.
But the Thunder didn’t bring flatware to this gunfight. Scott Brooks’ eight-man rotation has become a nine-man rotation to accommodate Desmond Mason, and D-Mase was a defensive powerhouse in the second half while Kevin Durant and Jeff Green raced to the basket — or, towards the end, to the foul line. The Thunder hit 32 of 38 from the stripe, Durant getting almost half of them (14/16) by himself on the way to a 30-point game. Jeff Green came up with 22 again, including 8 of 8 free throws. The experimentation continues: Russell Westbrook started at the point but occasionally moved to the two to make room for Earl Watson, and Chris Wilcox started at center but got into foul trouble early, with Joe Smith and Jeff Green (!) swinging in and out of the middle as needed. After shooting very poorly early on, the Thunder figured out the location of the FedEx cylinders, and finished with a respectable 52.1 percentage.
A few things went wrong, but hell, it’s a win. We aren’t going to get lots of them this year, so we may as well enjoy them, especially with a three-game road trip coming up. (They’ll come home first and rest a bit before heading off for Charlotte.)
