The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped some real-world problems on the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night with a 101-94 victory in the Mile High City. The Nuggets had been flying miles high, having won six straight and coming off a superlative and widely seen win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. But Kevin Durant let the world know he wasn't that impressed, and hung 32 points on 10-21 shooting on Denver.
Thunder Vs. Nuggets: Kevin Durant Can’t Be Stopped By Denver
Russell Westbrook struggled from the floor, shooting 5-17 on his way to 18 points and six assists. His counterpart Ty Lawson racked up 28 on 10-18 shooting. That could be an issue if the teams meet in the first round of the NBA Playoffs (as seems likely); the Thunder need Westbrook to be the second-best player on the court, because Denver has a huge depth advantage. Lawson played far better than Westbrook on Tuesday.
Oklahoma City, and Kendrick Perkins in particular, did a great job keeping Denver off of the offensive glass. The Nuggets are a poor offensive rebounding team, but Nene and Kenyon Martin are capable of causing trouble in that realm; just ask the Lakers. Denver had just five offensive boards in 47 opportunities, a really low number.
These teams should meet in the first round, unless the Thunder catches the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 3 seed. OKC has a tiebreaker, but Dallas is two games up with a week to go.
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