National Basketball Association scores: Thunder hammer Wizards 125-101

Enes Kanter stabilized the bench unit in the second quarter, adding a cool 9 points and 6 rebounds. It was little help to the Wizards that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook came out hungry.

Durant has the luxury of the season being just eight games in.

But since this is a Wizards blog, let’s mention Washington’s own special little guy: Kelly Oubre. “The grit and griminess”, rookie Kelly Oubre Jr. said.

The Wizards were particularly absent on the glass, where the Thunder outrebounded the Wizards by 15 in the first three quarters. A fast break led to a nifty bounce pass from D.J. Augustin to Enes Kanter, who scored and was fouled. Not About Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant was ruled OUT for the second half after having a left hamstring strain, but it did nothing for the Wizards chances as they continued to lack a defensive identity. We can’t blame turnovers tonight for defending, and we don’t defend. Beal continues to develop into one of the great shooters in the league – his shot is so clean you wouldn’t be mistaken for thinking he was reminiscent of a young Ray Allen. “So I said, ‘Where’s Dion?’ and he didn’t come out there”, Donovan said, explaining that’s why Kyle Singler was on the court to begin the second half. They played seven minutes on the evening to the tune of plus-1. If you’re scoring 102 points per game-11th best in the NBA-you’re putting yourself offensively in a position to win.

When Durant emerged from the locker room postgame, he was clearly frustrated as he spoke to reporters, hanging his head a bit and keeping his voice low. That’s our main thing.

The Thunder improved to 5-3 for the season and has won back-to-back games after a three-game slide. Fifty-fifty balls, the dirty stuff – we don’t get dirty, and that’s on me.

“We didn’t have anybody play good”. The startlingly tepid arena for a prime matchup never got a chance to really show that it could outkick the coverage.

The Wizards will have three days to rectify their issues before hosting Orlando, who they limited to 87 points on opening night, by far the fewest they have allowed all season.