Bulls struggling to cover as road underdogs this season, visit Thunder

“That’s the formula. We have to start looking at that”, Durant said.

Given the way this Bulls season has unfolded, the surprise shouldn’t be that they found a way to win against the Thunder. Westbrook and Durant rank second and third in the league, respectively, in PER. Westbrook had 30 points and 12 assists and Durant contributed 26 points and 10 assists while becoming the first teammates to have 25 points and 10 assists in the same regulation game since Utah’s John Stockton (31 points, 11 assists) and Karl Malone (27 points, 10 assists) on February 2, 1996. “I’m asking you. Tell me the truth, yes or no. Do you think we can back this up with a win?” A Durant dunk with 7:30 remaining sparked a 14-4 run for the Thunder that included two three-pointers from Anthony Morrow to pull the Thunder within six with a little under four minutes remaining in the game.

The energy missing from the loss to Chicago – missing for the first three quarters against Denver – was back. That seemed to set the tone for the entire night, as the Thunder racked up 22 fast break points. “When we play like that it makes it harder for other teams to guard us”.

Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder goes for a dunk while two players from the Denver Nuggets look on during their National Basketball Association game which the Thunder won, 122-112. OKC’s shooting went cold and they scored just 16 points and had as many turnovers (5) as made field goals in the quarter, trailing the Bulls 86-68 headed to the fourth. He also collected nine rebounds and seven assists.

We’ve reset the Play of the Day with fresh bankrolls and turned it into a yearly competition. He played well on both ends of the court.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are on the verge of a four-game winning streak, but that’s become the norm over the past month-plus along with winning at home. The big man finished with 21 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Thunder, who rebounded from a lackluster performance against the Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day with a season’s best shooting performance. There, they played slightly better but struggled to make the game close. “Enes was getting the ball all night off of dump offs and he did a good job of passing out of the post and re-posting and getting fouled”. They were coming off a convincing 105-76 win Saturday over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

At the moment, the Thunder are atop the Northwest Division in the Western Conference with a 20-9 record as they are comfortably ahead of their division rivals, the Utah Jazz. Rookie point guard Cameron Payne also saw early minutes, highlighted by a nice pass to Nick Collison for an easy score in the paint.

“He gave us a good punch”, Durant said of Payne.