Apparently it wasn’t Caturday
This one didn’t figure to be all that physical, I was thinking. And I was wrong: Stephen Jackson and Serge Ibaka nearly came to blows in the second half — double technicals were assessed, and it took rather a while for things to calm down — and even more weirdly, Bobcats assistant coach Dave Hanners was shaken up when Russell Westbrook, going out to save a pass, stumbled into one end of the Charlotte bench. But this merely means that emotions were running high. And the ‘Cats put up quite a fight, answering every Oklahoma City run with one of their own, but the Thunder ultimately prevailed, 98-91.
Jackson, in particular, was persistent: he put up 26 shots to get his 24 points. And the absence of Tyson Chandler wasn’t particularly noticeable: Nazr Mohammed was both fierce and accurate, hitting seven of 10 shots and reeling in eight boards in a mere 26 minutes. But overall, the Bobcats shot 43.2 percent, not too inspiring.
The Thunder shot a slightly-better 47 percent, but dominated the boards, 48-36. Kevin Durant turned in yet another 30-point night, and Nenad Krstić earned his first double-double of the season, 13 points and ten rebounds. Out at the point, Russell Westbrook shone: 22 points, six assists, and not one turnover. (Backup point guard Eric Maynor turned it over only once, scoring seven.)
Snowstorm of the Century notwithstanding, 17,961 tickets were sold for this game, 98.7 percent of capacity. Cabin fever? No matter. The crowd was good and, as they say upstairs, Loud.
Now follows a quickie two-game stretch on the East Coast, against two teams who have struggled of late: the Nets and the Wizards. Next time at the Ford: the Jazz, on Thursday. They aren’t struggling so much.
