Jazz-Thunder Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Feb 14 2012 1:02AM

The league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder have a busy stretch heading into the All-Star break, but at least they enter that home-heavy portion of their schedule following a nice break.

The road-weary Utah Jazz won't have that luxury when they make their only appearance in Oklahoma City this season.

The Thunder go for their first seven-game home winning streak since 2004 on Tuesday night when they face a Jazz team completing its only back-to-back-to-back set of games in 2011-12.

With seven games over the next 10 days, the Thunder (21-6) will have little rest before the league's annual mid-season showcase.

Oklahoma City, though, has not played since capping off a 3-2 trip with Friday's 101-87 victory over Utah.

The Thunder will also only have to travel once before the break - Wednesday versus Houston.

"It's just good to be home in our own house, our own city," coach Scott Brooks told the Thunders' official website on Monday. "We're going to be home for a while. That doesn't guarantee victories. We still have to work on a lot of the things that we need to improve and play with good energy, but it's nice to be in front of our home crowd for a while."

With a fifth straight victory in this series, Oklahoma City would match the franchise's best 11-game home start since the 2004-05 Seattle SuperSonics opened 10-1.

A victory would also give the Thunder the team's first 7-0 run on its home floor since Seattle's 9-0 stretch to begin the 2004-05 season.

"We get to focus on trying to take care of our home court," said Kevin Durant, who averaged 26.8 points on the trip after scoring 19 on Friday. "We're going to have some tough teams coming here, but it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it."

The Jazz (14-13) probably aren't as excited about putting their road jerseys on for a third straight night. After snapping a season-high three-game skid with Sunday's 98-88 victory over Memphis, Utah lost 86-80 to Western Conference-worst New Orleans.

Starters Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap were benched for the entire fourth quarter - and it wasn't just to rest for Tuesday.

"It's absolutely (disappointing)," said coach Tyrone Corbin, whose team has dropped six of eight, told the league's official website. "It's everything I thought it wouldn't be, it happened tonight. ... We thought we could just show up and win the ballgame."

Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook will likely have Utah's full attention. The Jazz did a relatively nice job limiting Durant to 10 shots on Friday, but Westbrook scored a team-high 28 points with six rebounds and five steals.

Westbrook, an All-Star reserve, was named the Western Conference player of the week on Monday. He had team highs with 27.6 points and 5.4 assists on the just-completed trip.

Jefferson, who had 20 points and eight rebounds on Friday, leads Utah with 35 points and 27 boards since that loss - the Jazz's third straight at home versus Oklahoma City.

Rested Thunder throttle weary Jazz 111-85

By JEFF LATZKE
Posted Feb 15 2012 3:20AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) The NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder got their first three-day break of the season, and the Utah Jazz were playing their third road game in as many nights.

The outcome was almost too predictable.

James Harden scored 22 points, Kevin Durant added 21 and the Thunder beat Utah 111-85 on Tuesday night for their second win against the Jazz in five days.

"Knowing we were on the third game of a back-to-back and they were rested, they wanted to create a tempo that was favorable to them and not allow us to get back in the game," Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said.

"They did a great job of just keeping the tempo up, attacking us at every moment they could and not allowing us to rest."

The well-rested Thunder (22-6) never trailed and led by at least 12 throughout the second half on their way to a seventh straight win at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. That's the team's longest home winning streak since moving from Seattle in 2008.

Russell Westbrook chipped in 16 points for Oklahoma City, and Serge Ibaka also scored 16 to go with 10 rebounds and six blocks.

"Serge was all over the floor, rebounding the ball, blocking shots. He's getting better every game," coach Scott Brooks said. "His growth, his development is encouraging.

"Every day he works, and you can see the work that he puts in on the floor paying off for him."

Al Jefferson led the Jazz with 15 points and rookie Derrick Favors scored 13. Utah started its three-game trip with a win at Memphis but followed it by allowing New Orleans to snap an eight-game losing streak.

The Jazz (14-14) then fell back to .500 for the first time since they were 3-3 on Jan. 3.

"I'm not going to blame fatigue," said forward Gordon Hayward, who was held scoreless. "That's just not acceptable.

"Whatever the reason was we're professionals, so back-to-back-to-back, that's our job. We've got to be prepared and we've got to be able to play."

Utah missed a window of opportunity to cut into a 16-point lead when Westbrook headed to the bench after picking up his fourth foul - and a technical, too - with 8:03 left in the third quarter.

Counterpart Devin Harris picked up his fifth foul 40 seconds later and also came out, and the Thunder ended up adding to their lead without their All-Star point guard. Durant drove for a right-handed slam to start a spurt of seven straight Oklahoma City points, and Harden nailed a 3-pointer from the right side to make it 77-56 with 1:46 remaining in the third.

Durant and Westbrook made brief appearances in the fourth quarter, and the starters were pulled with a little under 4 minutes remaining and the Thunder leading 101-76.

Oklahoma City won 101-87 on Friday night in Salt Lake City before getting three days off in a row for the first time all season, a reward after finishing a five-game road trip and a stretch with eight of nine away from home.

"It was great to get a chance to actually practice some of our fundamentals. When you're playing as many games as we play, sometimes you get away from fundamentals and you're just trying to get through the games," Nazr Mohammed said.

"We got a chance to go back to basics and practice some of the things that we need to do in games."

Utah allowed Oklahoma City to shoot 55 percent, made only 36 percent of its own shots and suffered its most lopsided defeat of the season.

"We knew it was going to be a tough task, being a back-to-back-to-back game and against a team here who was going to be rested for three days. We knew they would come out and try to jump on us," Corbin said.

"We lost the game in New Orleans and it may have knocked us off our stride a little bit. But you know what? Guys fought hard tonight. We just didn't have enough in the tank."

The weary Jazz missed 15 of their first 16 shots while falling behind 16-4, with Durant completing a string of 10 straight points by hitting a free throw.

Jefferson finally hit a series of shots to get Utah's offense going, and the Jazz climbed back within 31-28 after Enes Kanter's three-point play off of an offensive rebound about 4 minutes into the second quarter.

Harden drove for a layup and hit a 3-pointer as Oklahoma City reeled off the next nine points, and the Thunder built the lead as big as 51-35 late in the first half when Durant followed a post-up move with a pair of free throws.

It was never close again.

Notes: Hayward's first scoreless outing of the season came after Brooks mentioned him in pregame as a candidate to be the NBA's Most Improved Player. He missed all six of his shots and committed three turnovers in 17 minutes. ... Corbin said he needs to re-think his rotation to find more playing time for first-round pick Alec Burks, who didn't play during a recent four-game stretch and then got to the foul line 10 times in a loss at New Orleans on Monday. "That's going to be a good thing for us going forward, and we we're going to need it from him. That's why I think he deserves more time on the floor," Corbin said. ... Thunder G Thabo Sefolosha missed his ninth straight game with a sore right foot. Daequan Cook started in his place for the seventh straight time.

Notebook: Thunder 111, Jazz 85

Posted Wednesday February 15, 2012 12:03AM

By Randy Renner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: The Oklahoma City Thunder hadn't played a game since last Friday in Salt Lake City when they beat the Jazz. Utah has been a bit busier since then. The Jazz came into Chesapeake Energy Arena on the last night of a road back-to-back-to-back and it showed. The rested and ready Thunder tightened the defensive screws on the tired Jazz holding them to just 35.6 percent shooting while cruising to a 111-85 win. It is the seventh consecutive home victory for the Thunder while the Jazz have lost seven of their last nine.

Thunder sixth man James Harden led all scorers with 22 points on 6-for-9 shooting. Kevin Durant added 21 and Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka each scored 16. Ibaka also grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked six shots. The Thunder dominated inside, outscoring the Jazz 60-42 in the paint. They also ran the Jazz ragged outscoring them 17-4 on the break.

Utah had five players in double figures led by Al Jefferson's 15 points but it took him 19 shots to get there. Derrick Favors came off the bench to score 13 and Paul Milsap, Raja Bell and Alec Burks each finished with 10. Just like in the loss to New Orleans Monday night the Jazz starters sat on the bench in the fourth quarter. OKC's starters also spent the majority of the final frame being cheerleaders as every Thunder player suited up scored.

QUOTABLE: "I thought we came out and set the tone defensively in the first quarter. We started the game defensive minded. Our guys played hard and we made them take bad shots."
--Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks

QUOTABLE II: "It's the third night of a back-to-back-to-back, everybody's a little tired and we just ran out of gas. We just couldn't slow them down. We'll get ourselves back together, get some rest and we'll be fine."
-- Jazz Head Coach Ty Corbin

THE STAT: The Thunder shot 71.4% (30-for-42) down low in the painted area. Utah managed just 44.7% (21-for-47) on that same part of the floor. And how's this for a stat line, Thunder center Kendrick Perkins ended the game with one point, seven rebounds and six assists. That ties a career high by Perkins who also had six assists against Atlanta back in the 2008 season.

QUOTABLE III: "You know he's an underrated passer and I'm doing a better job of letting him (Perkins) touch the ball more."
-- Brooks

TURNING POINT: The Jazz, playing their fourth game in five nights and coming off a lack-luster effort in New Orleans the night before, started badly by missing 15 of their first 16 shots. Utah trailed by a dozen in the early going and could never climb back into the game. The effort was better than against the Hornets but through the first three quarters the Jazz had missed two out of every three shots they attempted.

QUOTABLE IV: "We missed some shots but I don't think it was because our legs were tired. I think we just missed them."
--Jazz Guard Devin Harris

HOT: In the first half Thunder point guard Westbrook was 5-for-7...In the second half OKC's Ibaka (5-for-5), Harden (3-for-4) and Durant (4-for-6) combined to go 12-for-15 and score 30 points.

NOT: The Jazz started the game an abysmal 1-for-16 (6.3%) and had just four points in the first seven minutes of the contest. ... In the first half the Jazz shot 32.7 percent (16-for-49)...and just 12.5 percent (1-for-8) on 3-pointers. ...The second half wasn't much better as Utah shot 39 percent on 16-for-41. ...Thunder guard Daequan Cook was 1-for-5 on 3-pointers in the first 24 minutes. ...Oklahoma City had one of its worst free throw shooting nights, missing 12 freebies. The Thunder shot just 64.7 percent (22-for-34) at the stripe.

GOOD MOVE: Thunder point guard Westbrook, taking an inbounds pass from Nick Collison, drove the length of the court on former teammate Earl Watson. Watson stayed with Westbrook in tight defense most of the way but when Westbrook faked outside and drove inside into the lane, the Jazz help defense wasn't there and Westbrook scored the layup.

BAD MOVE: Overheard along press row as Jazz players Raja Bell and Earl Watson were waiting to check back into the game. Bell turns to Watson and complains, "We consistently do dumb [stuff]. Consistently...do...dumb...[stuff]." Then just moments later Bell, himself, soft tosses a pass toward the left wing, OKC's Kendrick Perkins steps in front, intercepts Bell and fires a pass to a streaking Westbrook, who is all alone for a slam.

NOTABLE: With 16 points tonight, Westbrook joins only two other players (Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson) who have scored at least 5,000 points, dished out at least 1,900 assists and grabbed at least 1,300 rebounds in the first 274 games of their NBA careers.

UP NEXT: For the Jazz, Friday vs Wizards, Sunday @ Houston, Monday vs Spurs. For the Thunder, Wednesday @ Houston, Friday vs Warriors, Sunday vs Nuggets.

• Jazz: Carroll
• Thunder: Maynor, Sefolosha

• Jazz: --
• Thunder: Westbrook

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
• Officials: #23 Jason Phillips, #35 Kane Fitzgerald, #75 Eric Dalen
• Attendance: 18203
• Duration: 2:11