Kevin Durant Is Hyper-Efficient As Thunder Lead By Eight At Halftime

-Portland really needs to work on getting back. After an Andre Miller air ball, the Thunder grab a rebound and pitch it ahead to Kevin Durant. No Blazer is back instead of Marcus Camby, who fouls Durant. This has happened a lot in this game.

-Miller misses a layup, the Thunder get out really quickly, and Durant gets another layup. OKC leads by 12. For a team that does such a great job of controlling tempo (30th in pace), Portland’s doing a shameful job in their transition defense. Someone needs to drop back whenever Miller drives to the basket.

-Mike Rice says Kevin Durant will lead the NBA in scoring for 10 years in a row, because LeBron James isn’t interested in scoring. Mike Rice likes to engage in hyperbole. Mike Rice might still be right.

-It can really be breathtaking to watch OKC recover when they double team the post. Russell Westbrook doubles down on Juwan Howard, for some reason, but he still rushes to recover to contest Miller’s last-second heave in the corner.

-The one guy who is playing a great game tonight for Portland is Marcus Camby. On this possession, he drives and draws the third foul on Nick Collison. Once again, this is a weird play from Camby, but it works, and it weakens OKC’s already thin frontcourt. Camby has 11. “He’s doing everything,” says Rice.

-They just replayed Brandon Roy’s comments before the game about his knee injury. They make me sad.

This led to this exchange.

Mike Rice (under his breath): “Can he play in the second half.”

Mike Barrett: “No. But Patty Mills just got activated.”

I think they were trying to be funny. They came across as part endearing, part obsessive, part, awkward.

-Jerryd Bayless comes back in and immediately resumes dribbling. This time, it works, as Martell Webster hits a three on the end of the possession to cut OKC’s lead to five.

-Kevin Durant just slipped, but the refs called Martell Webster for the foul. (You don’t even need to tell me that Mike Rice went ballistic). Durant goes to the line and hits both free throws. He now has 21 points on ... wait for it ... seven shots. In other words, he’s averaging three points per shot attempt. Holy crap.

-The Thunder is full of idiosyncratic players, like Thabo Sefolosha, who has three points and six rebounds, and Russell Westbrook, their pogo-stick point guard. Westbrook drove down the lane and missed a contested shot over Juwan Howard, then somehow found a way to jump before all three Blazers around him to grab his own rebound.

-Alas, the Thunder get nothing, because Westbrook fumbled the ball trying to do some sort of crazy slam. The half ends with OKC leading 51-43. Marcus Camby and Andre Miller are playing well for Portland, but nobody else is. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant is kicking butt, as usual, and the Thunder are getting out in transition too much. Maybe Nate McMillan should put Patty Mills in the game, to just stand underneath his own hoop. That’ll stop the Thunder!