Bulls take anger out on Thunder

Second night of back to back, four of their six best players are injured and out (Jusuf Nurkic, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Emmanuel Mudiay) and the Oklahoma City Thunder appear to be back, healthy and motivated after losing at home to the Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day.

In a game that featured several skirmishes, the Bulls outrebounded the NBA’s No. 2 rebounding team 53-48.

But Lakers veteran Kobe Bryant was again feeling the physical strain, this time with a sore right knee. We’v e got enough friends in here. “We were making plays for each other”. “We penetrate and we looked to pass tonight”.

Kanter had a monster game, especially on the glass with 13 boards to go with his 14 points but Ibaka, Waiters and the rest of the supporting cast suffered. Our three sports writers have re-started with $10,000 bankrolls to continue using on odds from the South Point.

“I think the last quarter was probably the best quarter we played defensively”, Thunder coach Billy Donovan said.

“Man, we didn’t have any energy to start the game or to start the third quarter”, Kevin Durant said. This is still the Durant Westbrook show, but when the team’s winning, it seems they don’t have to resort to playing one or two on five basketball which is seen as the root cause of their failure to win an NBA championship or even make the Finals since their disappointing trip in 2012, the last time James Harden was on the team. The unit played well, but the Thunder got no closer than six.

With 4:58 left in the second quarter, the Bulls led the Thunder 51-37. However, strong production from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook was key in the Thunder 122-112 route of Denver.

Westbrook scored 30 points on 11 of 18 shooting, dished out 12 assists and was just one rebound shy of completing his fourth triple-double of the season.

Call it a Christmas Day miracle? The Bulls vice president addressed the team in the aftermath of a listless home loss to the Nets that marked their third straight defeat. Kanter answered by tipping in a missed jumper by Serge Ibaka, then dunked after taking a feed from Westbrook and made the ensuing free throw, giving Oklahoma City its biggest lead to that point at 101-97. Houston used an 8-2 run to take a 78-71 lead with about five minutes left. Foye and Jameer Nelson each are only four shy of reaching 1,000 3-pointers for their careers. A layup by Duncan came next before Harden brought the crowd to its feet with an off-balance 3-pointer from the corner that made it 84-75. After the Nuggets’ loss in San Antonio on Saturday, Malone met former Denver coach Doug Moe for the first time and offered him an “open invitation” to visit the team in Denver.

Carmelo Anthony had 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks.

Clippers 94, Lakers 84: Chris Paul scored 23 points, and the Clippers beat the Lakers to end a three-game skid.