Blowing by the Pistons
Lots of lead changes in this one, with Detroit and Oklahoma City just about evenly matched in most of the statistical categories. But the Thunder, after a semi-shaky start, played some serious defense, holding the Pistons to 37-percent shooting and a mere 12 assists, on the way to a 91-83 win at the Palace.
Once again, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook wound up in the double-double club (25 points, 12 rebounds for the Durantula; 10 points, 10 assists for Jet Zero). Scott Brooks mostly stuck to a nine-man rotation, though Serge Ibaka got about three minutes while both Jeff Green and Nenad Krstić were in foul trouble. (Krispy eventually fouled out.) James Harden put in 16 minutes, scored two but served up eight assists.
Detroit was led by Ben Gordon (25) and Rodney Stuckey (21), and both ex-Thunder guys on the Motown roster — Chris Wilcox and Chucky Atkins — drew DNP-CDs. Gordon was fierce in the fourth quarter; if anyone else had been, the Pistons might have pulled this one out. It didn’t help that Rip Hamilton was inactive with a bad ankle.
Next two games will be at the Ford, against even more serious opposition: the Trail Blazers on Sunday and the Lakers on Tuesday. The Thunder, in fact, have five Sunday games in November, four of them at home. And there aren’t any real pushovers this month, except maybe the allegedly-cursed Clippers, whom the Thunder beat exactly once in four tries last year.
Still: 2 and 0. Last year, the second win came in game #18 (at Memphis, on November 29th). By any reasonable standard, this is an improvement, though it’s too early to start saving up for playoff tickets.
