July 11, 2008 | By Melanie Curtsinger



Despite not having their two leading scorers, Oklahoma City defeated Chicago 86-73 in the second game Friday at the 2008 Orlando Pro Summer League at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando, Fla. OKC’s top tandem for the week – Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green – sat out of the team’s summer league finale, but it ended up not mattering in the end, as D.J. White and Ronald Dupree stepped up in their absence with 20 and 17 points, respectively, to lead OKC to their second victory of the week.

In addition to White and Dupree, Mykal Riley tallied 14 points while Brian Randel had a solid showing as well, hitting 5-of-8 shots from the field and finishing with 13. Although both teams were sloppy (each had 23 turnovers in the contest), OKC shot 47 percent from the floor while outrebounding Chicago 35-28 and assisting 20 on of their 31 field goals. The squad also controlled the paint, scoring 40 of their 86 around the basket compared to Chicago’s 22 with the help of their 12 offensive rebounds.

The Bulls held a 19-16 lead after one quarter of play, but their sloppy play, including eight turnovers in the first and 14 total in the first half, soon caught up to them. Oklahoma City coupled Chicago’s miscues with a blistering 76 percent second quarter, hitting 13-of-17 shots to outscore the Bulls 32-19 in the period. OKC never looked back, taking a 10-point (48-38) advantage into halftime before seeing their lead swell to as many as 18 late in the game en route to the victory.

Chicago, who also fell to 2-3 in summer league action, was paced by Bulls second-year player and former Oklahoma State standout JamesOn Curry, who poured in 17 points. Aaron Gray’s 16 and Demetrius Nichols’s 13 rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Bulls, who ended up shooting a dismal 37 percent (20-of-54) in their final summer league appearance.