National Basketball Association Game Capsules
Oklahoma City, OK (SportsNetwork.com) – Oklahoma City’s front office was extremely active before Thursday’s trade deadline. Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and the Thunder players matched that intensity on the court. Westbrook and Ibaka both posted monster double-doubles and Oklahoma City started the second half of the season with a 104-89 drubbing of the Dallas Mavericks. Westbrook poured in 34 points with 10 assists and Ibaka tallied 21 points with a career-high 22 rebounds for the Thunder, who made a series of moves just before the deadline in hopes of not just securing a playoff berth, but making a run through a loaded Western Conference. In a three-team deal, Oklahoma acquired guard D.J. Augustin, swingman Kyle Singler and a 2019 second-round pick from the Pistons, as well as big man Enes Kanter and sniper Steve Novak from the Jazz. Guard Reggie Jackson went to Detroit and center Kendrick Perkins highlighted a package that was sent to Utah. The Thunder moved into a tie with idle Phoenix for the eighth playoff spot in the West. Anthony Morrow took advantage of extended minutes and to score 16 points for Oklahoma City, which won going away despite Kevin Durant shooting just 4-for-14 and leaving the game in the fourth quarter after aggravating a foot injury.
Final Score: LA Clippers 119, San Antonio 115
Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – DeAndre Jordan did his best impression of the still-sidelined Blake Griffin on Thursday night. His woeful foul shooting, however, kept him from his third straight 20-20 game. Jordan had 26 points and 18 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers held off the San Antonio Spurs for a 119-115 victory. Jordan put down an emphatic Griffin-esque dunk late in the third quarter, literally throwing the ball through the hoop. After he stole a pass from Manu Ginobili, he finished off a 3-on-1 fastbreak when he received a no-look pass from Chris Paul and took off from the dotted line before thunderously tossing the ball through the hoop over Marco Belinelli. The Spurs pulled the “Hack-A-Shaq” fouling strategy on Jordan during the middle stages of the fourth and the seven-footer missed eight of his 14 bonus shots during the three-plus minute stretch. Jordan came into the game shooting 40.8 percent from the foul line. San Antonio cut a 100-93 deficit to 104-101 with 5:46 to go prior to Jordan’s departure from the game due to the fouling tactics. He came back in with 2:15 remaining. After Danny Green’s driving layup clawed San Antonio within 112-111 with less than a minute to go, Jamal Crawford swished a right corner 3-pointer with 32.7 seconds on the clock for a four-point cushion. Marco Belinelli quickly answered with a left wing trey just over two seconds later and Chris Paul came back and knocked down a step- back foul line jumper with eight ticks left for a 117-114 margin. LA head coach Doc Rivers elected to foul Manu Ginobili with 7.2 seconds and the Argentine sunk the first. He missed the second one intentionally, but J.J. Redick came down with the rebound and sealed the outcome with two from the charity stripe. Jordan was 10-of-28 from the foul line in all, while Paul posted 22 points and 16 assists for the Clippers, who have won three straight on the heels of a four-game losing streak.
Categorized in: NBA