OKLAHOMA CITY — When Oklahoma City lost to the Washington Wizards last week, it did almost everything it could to lose to a bad team in the NBA. They were outrebounded, turned the ball over and played terrible defense.
The Thunder didn’t make the same mistake Monday with struggling Detroit in town. They jumped on the pistons from the outset and didn’t call off the dogs until they had claimed a 99-79 victory at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
“We knew going into the game, you have to bring it every night,”Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “That’s one of the things this team is about. They are about working every day and every game. They did that tonight.”
Oklahoma City (14-3) got stellar play from the entire team, but it was the big three of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden that set the tone for the evening. Without seeing action in the fourth quarter, the trio combined for 68 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists.
“I thought the defense set the tone tonight right from the first possession,”Brooks said. “Russell was just tremendous just leading the team on both ends of the floor, getting guys involved. Making the right reads and decisions. Defensively he started, and everybody fell right along.”
With a fresh new contract in hand, Westbrook didn’t wait long to show the Oklahoma City fans what they get for $80 million. Early in the first quarter he went coast-to-coast, split the Pistons’ defense before throwing down a ferocious dunk that forced Detroit’s Lawrence Franks to call a timeout.
Westbrook didn’t stop there. He collected 12 of his 24 points in the opening period.
“I just tried to keep excitement in the game,”Westbrook said. “Keep the fans involved. The fans have had my back from day one. My job is to come out and play hard for them every night.”
Even though the Thunder had been on the road for the past week, they looked like they had the fresher legs. From Serge Ibaka grabbing offensive rebounds to James Harden and Kevin Durant filling the lanes on fastbreak, they completely outworked the Pistons in the first half.
The Pistons (4-14) that have taken the floor this season are a far cry from the squad that was competing for NBA titles less than a decade ago. TayShaun Prince and Ben Wallace are the only holdovers from the 2004 NBA champion team. That was a young, hungry team that used hard nosed defense to claim its spot in the history books.
That is what Oklahoma City wants to do. While they haven’t reached that Piston’s squad level of defense, they did show glimpses of it as they held a 60-33 halftime lead . It was the second game in a row the Thunder have held an opponent to their season low for a half.
“It was a good job defensively,”Westbrook said. “I think we did a good job of coming out and making our presence known defensively.”
Detroit was unable to make a serious run in the second half. Rookie Brandon Knight led the pistons with 13 points. Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey each had 12 points in the loss.
“We just have to work a whole lot harder and smarter and tougher and together to not have performances like this,”Franks said. “Very disappointing to just put forth that type of performance.”
Ibaka collected 10 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Thunder. His play over the past two weeks has been a major reason for the team’s success.
“I have always told Serge you have to do the things you do at a high level,”Brooks said. “And he blocks shots at high level, rebounds at a high level and runs the floor. And he has to continue to do those three things. His offense will come around.”
With eight of their next 10 games away from the Peake, the Thunder were glad to get the blowout victory. They know they will need their legs in the coming weeks.
“It was fun,” Westbrook said. “Very exciting to get a chance for a lot of our guys to go out there and get some minutes. And have us rest a little bit. We’ve been playing a lot on the road. It gives us an opportunity to rest.”
Michael Kinney 366-3537 mkinney@normantranscript.com
