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This week, the Thunder got off to a really bad start in losing to the Lakers, but it may have been just the thing they needed to wake up from their post all-star slumber. Find out how each player performed!
Game 1: Thunder embarrass themselves vs Lakers, lose 114-110
Game 2: Westbrook, Thunder shut down high powered Rockets, 106-98
Game 3: Thunder barely need 3 quarters to quash Lakers in revenge game, 131-102
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KEVIN DURANT | Games Played | PPG | REB | AST | BL | ST | TO | +/- |
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(Average Stats) | 3 | 32.7 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 3.7 | +8.3 |
JUAN | ![]() |
I'm going to agree with Sherman below me, when you lose to the Lakers, you get knocked down at least a letter grade. I wish I can give him a C or something, but his play is still off the charts. | ||||||
SHERMAN | ![]() |
Sorry Kevin Durant, you get dinged a grade if you allow your team to lose to the Lakers. That's just the way it is. What is amazing though is that Durant has clearly taken a step back from his January-February reaping, so it seems like he's not as effective. And then you look at his stat line and you wonder how such a thing is even possible. |
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THABO SEFOLOSHA | Games Played | PPG | REB | AST | BL | ST | TO | +/- |
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(Average Stats) | 0 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
JUAN | ![]() |
Thabo Sefolosha is still out and last week his presence was missed greatly. This week, however, the young guys (Jones and Roberson) did a great job at holding their own in that spot, which is great to see. | ||||||
SHERMAN | ![]() |
Thabo Sefolosha continues to be out with injury. To the team's credit, they are patching together a really interesting 1-2 defensive punch between Jones and Roberson. It will be good to get him back, but for the time being it appears that the Thunder are patching up their perimeter defense. |
SERGE IBAKA | Games Played | PPG | REB | AST | BL | ST | TO | +/- |
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(Average Stats) | 3 | 16.0 | 14.7 | 0.7 | 4.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | +4.7 |
JUAN | ![]() |
This was probably Serge Ibaka's best week since Russell Westbrook returned to the lineup. His stats might be a bit inflated because that's what happens when you play the Lakers and Robert Sacre twice, but he was active and he absolutely dominated the paint. I would have liked to see a hard foul on Jodie Meeks once he was torching the perimeter guys, but that's just me. | ||||||
SHERMAN | ![]() |
That there was an impressive week of basketball from Serge Ibaka. The Lakers loss aside (which was mostly because of bad perimeter defense, not post defense), Ibaka is producing these kinds of stat lines with regularity. He helped hold the Rockets inside game in check, and then he went nuts against the Lakers, nearly single-handedly controlling the post defense. Further more, I like seeing those rebounding numbers back up; it makes things much easier to get the break going when Ibaka is grabbing boards and not Durant or Westbrook. |
TEAM GRADE | Record | OffRtg | DefRtg | AstRatio | REB% | TS% | PACE | +/- |
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(Advanced Stats) | 2-1 | 110.0 | 99.6 | 16.1 | 58.7% | 56.6% | 105.1 | +11.0 |
JUAN | ![]() |
Again, losing to a team that wants to lose is unacceptable, but it is what it is. The Thunder bounced back and beat the Rockets in a game that had playoffs written all over it. They also crushed the same Lakers team and hopefully the team can get the "we can't take anybody lightly" and make a push for the number one seed in the loaded Western Conference. The difference between the one-seed and the three-seed is a big difference. | ||||||
SHERMAN | ![]() |
I'm willing to overlook losses, even bad ones, if that is what it takes in order to snap the Thunder to attention. They finally realized heading into the Rockets game that they could not continue to play as they were, because playing that way was causing them to lose to some of the worst teams in the league. They took their medicine, shut down Houston, and hopefully that means they're off to the races again, understanding that it takes a full game's effort in order to differentiate themselves from everybody else. |
*All player images via US Presswire
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