Welcome Thunder fans!

ThunderReport is a Oklahoma City Thunder blog and fan site dedicated to other Oklahoma City fans like yourself. We update our Thunder Blog with news and Thunder Rumors every single day. Looking for an updated Thunder Schedule or Oklahoma City Tickets? We can direct you to the right places for those things as well.

We are also taking applications for new Oklahoma City Thunder bloggers at ThunderReport.

The NBA Off-Season is upon us.Keep ThunderReport in your favorites for all of Oklahoma City Thunder Report News.

And if you need Oklahoma City Thunder Tickets, you can find the image link on the left side panel.

It looks like Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks’ decision to send James Harden back to the bench and start Daequan Cook is paying off. After scoring a nice win over their rivals to the south, the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City continued to roll with a big 101-94 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Daequan Cook
Wikimedia Commons

The Thunder are in the middle of a long road run, and after a tough loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooks sent Harden back to his role as sixth man and the Thunder knocked off two of the teams they met in the 2010-11 postseason. Harden started against the Clippers due to the injury to Thabo Sefolosha but his lack of defense cost the Thunder a lot long range shots.

Sefolosha is the Thunder’s best perimeter guard and is key to limiting opponents three-point opportunities. While Harden is a solid presence in the offensive game, he does not excel at guarding the perimeter. However, Cook is a master of the three and has served the team well in filling in the gap left since Sefolosha went down.

Dallas only hit 4-of-19 (21-percent) from beyond the arc and Memphis finished the game hitting only 4-of-13 (30-percent). The Grizzlies did not have a bad game, with both Marc Gasol (24) and Rudy Gay (23) shooting for over 20 points while three other players scored in double digits.

However, Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with a double-double, scoring 36 points while pulling down 10 rebounds while James Harden finished with 24 and Russell Westbrook scored 21. The Thunder only played nine players in the game.

Memphis did dominate the boards, out-rebounding Oklahoma City, 39-35. The Grizzlies also scored 24 second chance points with 15 offensive rebounds while the Thunder struggled in that area again with only 10 offensive boards and only nine second chance points. Kendrick Perkins had a really off game, with only one rebound and one block.

Luckily, when Durant shoots 58-percent from the field, you don’t need that many offensive rebounds.

The Thunder are now 18-4 (.818), keeping their position as the best team in the NBA. Next up is the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and is an avid sports fan that has lived in Oklahoma for over 40 years. He used to religiously follow the Dallas Mavericks until Oklahoma City found a team to call their own.

Source: NBA.COM

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Gotta run!.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)—The Memphis Grizzlies know the team they are chasing to
reach the top of the Western Conference.

Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder keep finding ways to stay one
step ahead.

Durant scored 36 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer in the final
minute to lift the Thunder to a 101-94 victory against Memphis on Friday night
in a rematch of their epic Western Conference semifinals series.

One of those games went to triple overtime and another was settled after one
extra period.

This one came right down to the wire, too, before Durant scored the final
seven points.

“Those guys are the guys that we need to be like, from start to finish,”
Grizzlies forward Tony Allen said.

Durant answered Mike Conley’s tying 3-pointer by pulling up in front of Rudy
Gay for his own 3 from the right wing with 53 seconds left. He added a jumper
from the foul line to push the lead to five, then closed out the game by
grabbing the rebound on O.J. Mayo’s 3-point attempt and hitting two free throws
after getting fouled.

“The 3s I was shooting looked good but I was missing,” said Durant, who
had missed all five of his previous 3-point attempts.

“It was just a matter of time before one was going to go down for me. I
shot the ball right and it was able to go in.”

James Harden scored 10 of his 24 points during Oklahoma City’s
fourth-quarter rally.

Marc Gasol led Memphis with 24 points and Gay scored 23.

That duo and Durant played the entire second half in a thrilling renewal of
the West semifinals won by Oklahoma City last year in seven games.

The Thunder won twice in Memphis this season by a total of eight points, but
it was the Grizzlies who were in control most of the way in this one and up
75-65 in the final minute of the third quarter.

Harden engineered a comeback, hitting two 3-pointers and driving for two
layups during a 15-4 burst to start the fourth quarter. His drive set up Nick
Collison for the go-ahead free throw, and Daequan Cook followed with a jumper
from the right side for an 84-81 lead.

The Grizzlies had an answer and were able to claw back and tie it on
Conley’s 3-pointer from the right side with 1:12 remaining—only for Durant to
deliver the knockout punch.

“It’s always fun. We always have grind-it-out games against each other, and
tonight was another one,” Durant said. “We dug ourselves a hole early, wasn’t
playing well, but the second half, we picked it up.”

Russell Westbrook added 21 points and seven assists for the NBA-leading
Thunder, the only team other than Chicago to score at least 100 points on
Memphis this season. Oklahoma City has done it twice and the Bulls once.

“They’re playing like they’re more experienced than us right now but at the
end of the day, we’re still a work in progress and I like the future for this
team,” Allen said.

“They’ve got our number right now.”

It was the only stop at home for the Thunder during a 19-day span featuring
eight out of nine on the road.

Allen had 17 points for the Grizzlies, who are also in the midst of playing
nine of 12 away from home.

“We started taking too many jump shots as we were coming down the stretch,
but my guys played really hard,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. “They left
it out there and they didn’t have enough in the tank coming down the stretch.”

The Thunder outscored Memphis 32-17 in the final period.

“I think our energy picked up; the crowd got into it. That whole fourth
quarter was the way we play basketball,” Harden said.

Memphis used a couple of bizarre steals to fuel a 9-0 run late in the first
quarter. Conley came up with a pass that went through Serge Ibaka’s legs, and it
ended up leading to Gay’s two-handed putback dunk on a fast break. On the next
trip, Ibaka stepped in the way of Westbrook’s pass. Dante Cunningham grabbed the
loose ball and fed Mayo for a right-handed transition dunk to make it 23-17.

NOTES: Kendrick Perkins picked up his NBA-leading ninth technical foul of
the season with 5:02 left in the first half when he and Gasol got tangled up
battling for rebounding position on a 3-pointer that Harden made. Perkins faces
a one-game suspension if he gets to 13. The scuffle resulted in Gasol’s third
technical of the season, all against the Thunder and the second time as part of
a double-technical foul tangle with Perkins. … Westbrook also got his fifth
technical for spiking the ball after Allen blocked his shot about two minutes
earlier.

Gotta run!.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)

Kevin Durant scored 36 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer in the final minute to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 101-94 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night in a rematch of their epic Western Conference playoff series.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

Oklahoma City, OK (Sports Network) – Kevin Durant scored 36 points, including
the go-ahead three-pointer in the final minute, as the Oklahoma City Thunder
rallied late to take down the Memphis Grizzlies, 101-94, on Friday.

Durant also had 10 rebounds — all in the second half — while James Harden
netted 24 points and Russell Westbrook contributed 21 in the Thunder’s second
straight win and their sixth in their last seven contests.

“He’s a great player. I mean that’s all you can say — he’s a great player. He
made great plays and great shots down the stretch,” Grizzlies head coach
Lionel Hollins said about Durant. “He took over the game. He’s going to be one
of the all-time greats if he stays healthy.”

Marc Gasol paced the Grizzlies with 24 points and Rudy Gay netted 23 in
Memphis’ fifth loss in seven games.

Oklahoma City was outscored in each of the first three quarters and entered
the fourth trailing by a score of 77-69.

After Tony Allen’s three-pointer gave Memphis a seven-point cushion, 80-73,
Harden caught fire, scoring the Thunder’s next eight points, including back-
to-back threes to knot the game at 81.

Oklahoma City then held a one-possession lead over the next four minutes until
Westbrook’s trey followed by Durant making 1-of-2 free throws put the Thunder
ahead 92-87 with 2 1/2 minutes to play.

The Grizzlies battled back with a 7-2 spurt to tie the game at 94 points
apiece on a Mike Conley three-pointer.

Then, on Oklahoma City’s next touch, Durant, who had been 0-for-5 from three-
point range, sent a long shot attempt a couple feet beyond the right wing that
fell in for the game-deciding shot with 53.8 seconds showing on the clock.

Conley’s bad pass on Memphis’ ensuing possession marked the Grizzlies’ 19th
turnover of the game, and Durant put the game out of reach with a well-
defended shot from the foul line as the shot clock expired.

A pair of Durant free throws after a missed O.J. Mayo three-pointer accounted
for the final margin.

“Going into this game, we knew it was going to be a very physical ball game.
Both teams were going to play hard, aggressive defense and force each other
out of our comfort zone and both teams did,” Thunder head coach Scott Brooks
said. “James [Harden] hit some big threes and also played well. Kevin
[Durant], obviously is one of the best players and he hit big shots down the
stretch.”

Memphis led, 30-25, after a back-and-forth first quarter that saw seven lead
changes and three ties.

Mayo then scored six straight points to kick off an early 8-2 run in the
second quarter to give the Grizzlies their largest lead of the game, 38-27.

But the Thunder battled back with a 13-4 spurt over the next five minutes to
get within two, 42-40, and after trading baskets over the next four
possessions, Memphis netted the last four points of the quarter and held a
50-44 lead at the break.

The Thunder got within one early on the third, but a 9-1 swing by Memphis
stretched its lead to nine points and the Grizzlies held at least a five-point
advantage for the remainder of the frame en route to a 77-69 lead after three.

Game Notes

Oklahoma City owns an NBA-best record of 18-4…Oklahoma City recorded 29
points off of Memphis’ 19 giveaways, while the Grizzlies scored 26 points off
17 Thunder turnovers…Memphis held a 39-35 advantage on the glass and
outscored the Thunder 50-38 in the paint.

What are your opinions.

Published: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 9:06 p.m. MST

Thanks for reading! .

Durant hits 36 in Thunder’s win vs. Griz

There is the quick update of the day.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The
Memphis Grizzlies
know the team they are chasing to reach the top of the Western Conference.

Kevin Durant and the
Oklahoma City Thunder
keep finding ways to stay one step ahead.

Durant scored 36 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer in the final minute to lift the Thunder to a 101-94 victory against
Memphis on Friday night in a rematch of their epic Western Conference semifinals series.

One of those games went to triple overtime and another was settled after one extra period.

This one came right down to the wire, too, before Durant scored the final seven points.

“Those guys are the guys that we need to be like, from start to finish,” Grizzlies forward Tony Allen said.

Durant answered Mike Conley’s tying 3-pointer by pulling up in front of Rudy Gay for his own 3 from the right wing with 53
seconds left. He added a jumper from the foul line to push the lead to five, then closed out the game by grabbing the rebound
on O.J. Mayo’s 3-point attempt and hitting two free throws after getting fouled.

“The 3s I was shooting looked good but I was missing,” said Durant, who had missed all five of his previous 3-point attempts.

“It was just a matter of time before one was going to go down for me. I shot the ball right and it was able to go in.”

James Harden scored 10 of his 24 points during Oklahoma City’s fourth-quarter rally.

Marc Gasol led Memphis with 24 points and Gay scored 23.

That duo and Durant played the entire second half in a thrilling renewal of the West semifinals won by Oklahoma City last
year in seven games.

The Thunder won twice in Memphis this season by a total of eight points, but it was the Grizzlies who were in control most
of the way in this one and up 75-65 in the final minute of the third quarter.

Harden engineered a comeback, hitting two 3-pointers and driving for two layups during a 15-4 burst to start the fourth quarter.
His drive set up Nick Collison for the go-ahead free throw, and Daequan Cook followed with a jumper from the right side for
an 84-81 lead.

The Grizzlies had an answer and were able to claw back and tie it on Conley’s 3-pointer from the right side with 1:12 remaining
– only for Durant to deliver the knockout punch.

“It’s always fun. We always have grind-it-out games against each other, and tonight was another one,” Durant said. “We dug
ourselves a hole early, wasn’t playing well, but the second half, we picked it up.”

Russell Westbrook added 21 points and seven assists for the NBA-leading Thunder, the only team other than Chicago to score
at least 100 points on Memphis this season. Oklahoma City has done it twice and the Bulls once.

“They’re playing like they’re more experienced than us right now but at the end of the day, we’re still a work in progress
and I like the future for this team,” Allen said.

“They’ve got our number right now.”

It was the only stop at home for the Thunder during a 19-day span featuring eight out of nine on the road.

Allen had 17 points for the Grizzlies, who are also in the midst of playing nine of 12 away from home.

“We started taking too many jump shots as we were coming down the stretch, but my guys played really hard,” Memphis coach
Lionel Hollins said. “They left it out there and they didn’t have enough in the tank coming down the stretch.”

The Thunder outscored Memphis 32-17 in the final period.

“I think our energy picked up; the crowd got into it. That whole fourth quarter was the way we play basketball,” Harden said.

Memphis used a couple of bizarre steals to fuel a 9-0 run late in the first quarter. Conley came up with a pass that went
through Serge Ibaka’s legs, and it ended up leading to Gay’s two-handed putback dunk on a fast break. On the next trip, Ibaka
stepped in the way of Westbrook’s pass. Dante Cunningham grabbed the loose ball and fed Mayo for a right-handed transition
dunk to make it 23-17.

NOTES: Kendrick Perkins picked up his NBA-leading ninth technical foul of the season with 5:02 left in the first half when
he and Gasol got tangled up battling for rebounding position on a 3-pointer that Harden made. Perkins faces a one-game suspension
if he gets to 13. The scuffle resulted in Gasol’s third technical of the season, all against the Thunder and the second time
as part of a double-technical foul tangle with Perkins. … Westbrook also got his fifth technical for spiking the ball after
Allen blocked his shot about two minutes earlier.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

The Oklahoma City Thunder return from a road trip Feb. 3 to host the Memphis Grizzlies. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. This will be the third meeting between the two teams already this season. The Thunder have won the previous two meetings.

Oklahoma City is coming off a defensive gem against the Dallas Mavericks Feb. 1. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook got their usual points. But it was the defense of Serge Ibaka, with 10 blocks in Dallas, that paved the way for the 95-86 victory.

If the Thunder can have another game like they did in Dallas, the game against Memphis will be a good one to watch. Memphis comes into the game on a two-game winning streak. The Grizzlies went to the Atlanta Hawks and blew them out by 19 points Feb. 2. The previous game was a three-point victory against the Denver Nuggets. These two wins followed a four-game losing streak.

The game is a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Semifinals which was a slugfest between two up-and-coming NBA teams. The Thunder won the series in seven games as a four seed. Memphis came in as an eight seed that just upset the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs.

Another sellout crowd may greet the Thunder upon their return home. ESPN reports the average home attendance for OKC over nine games has been 18,203. That figure represents the maximum capacity of Chesapeake Energy Arena. Although 12th in the NBA in attendance as compared to other teams, having a home venue sell out every game in a tight schedule is always a welcome sight. The Thunder are the hottest ticket in town.

The team returns home just as Durant was named a starter for the 2012 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando Feb. 26. Westbrook may get a nod, but would be a bench player as a backup point guard.

Fans should relish this home game now against a playoff contender from last year and a regional rival. Oklahoma City goes on the road for five games before hosting the Utah Jazz on Valentine’s Day. It will be 11 more days before the Thunder return home.

William Browning is a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder ever since the team relocated from Seattle. As the closest NBA team to Branson, Mo., the Thunder serve as the regional team for southwest Missouri.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant earned another starting nod for the NBA’s All-Star Game. Durant will start for the Western Conference alongside four players from the two franchises in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are the starting five that will take the floor Feb. 26 in Orlando, Fla.

In just his fifth NBA season, this will be Durant’s third All-Star Game and second start in a row. Last season, Durant had 34 points in the All-Star Game.

This season, the fans voting him as a starter is a no-brainer. He’s the second-leading scorer in the Western Conference behind Bryant and third in the NBA with 26.6 points per game. Fellow teammate Russell Westbrook is also in the top 10 in scoring but wasn’t selected by the fans. The point guard may still make the roster if the coaches decide to make him a bench player.

Durant certainly deserves to play in this year’s All-Star Game. He’s an NBA superstar on the best team in the league. OKC has a 17-4 record and leads all Western Conference teams by two and a half games. Without Durant’s presence on the floor, the Thunder wouldn’t be in the position they are with such young talent.

Should Durant get hot in the All-Star Game, he just might walk away with the MVP nod. It will be interesting to see how he stacks up with Bryant on his team. The aging superstar still has plenty to prove as the Los Angeles Lakers’ guard has been named the All-Star MVP several times. Having Griffin on Durant’s squad will also be interesting. He recently had a monster dunk during OKC’s recent loss in L.A.

Durant may also have to play peacemaker. Two starters are from the Los Angeles Clippers and two hail from the Los Angeles Lakers. The intra-city rivals don’t necessarily like each other.

The 2012 NBA All-Star Game will be televised on TNT with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Feb. 26. Bryant and Miami Heat forward LeBron James were to top two vote-getters in each conference.

Congratulations on all of the selections voted on by fans, but especially Durant who has been electrifying home crowds in Oklahoma for four seasons.

William Browning is a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder ever since the team relocated from Seattle. As the closest NBA team to Branson, Mo., the Thunder serve as the regional team for southwest Missouri.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

If you like reading our blog, remember to bookmark it.

Last month, Dallas guard Jason Terry ruffled a few feathers when he labeled the Oklahoma City Thunder as the Mavericks’ “little brother.”

That’s all the news for today.

That’s all the news for today.

There is the quick update of the day.

CBSSports.com wire reports
Feb. 1, 2012

DALLAS — Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant provided the offense for Oklahoma City, and Serge Ibaka’s defense put the Thunder over the top.

Westbrook scored 33 points and Kevin Durant added 23 points and 13 rebounds as the Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks 95-86 on Wednesday night.

Ibaka had a career-high 10 blocked shots, helping Oklahoma City limit Dallas to 8-for-38 shooting from the field in the second half.

“He was amazing,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said of Ibaka, who also had 11 rebounds. “He’s been playing great defense eight of the last nine games.”

James Harden contributed 10 points off the bench as the Thunder bounced back from Monday night’s 112-100 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers that snapped a four-game winning streak.

Jason Terry had 26 points for the short-handed Mavericks, who snapped a three-game winning streak.

Dirk Nowitzki went 2 for 15 from the floor and finished with eight points for Dallas in his third game back after a four-game absence to deal with a sore right knee and conditioning issues. He had 10 points in each of his first two games after returning.

“I had some good looks,” said Nowitzki, last season’s MVP of the NBA Finals. “I’ve just got to keep working.”

Nowitzki said his knee is better than it was two weeks ago, “But sometimes I don’t have enough confidence in my movement if I try to make a hard move.”

Oklahoma City has won two of three meetings between the teams this season. The Mavs took a five-game series with the Thunder in last season’s Western Conference finals before Dallas went on to its first league title.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle was ejected with 9:34 left in the game after picking up two technicals in a span of about two minutes. The second was assessed after Carlisle kicked the game ball into the stands in frustration during a stoppage in play after a no-call that went against his team.

Carlisle apologized to owner Mark Cuban and the fans after the game, saying, “The incident where the ball got kicked into the stands, that can’t happen. My intent was not to kick it into the stands. I was trying to kick it to the referee, but I’m not a very good kick. … That’s a regrettable situation.”

The Mavs were without key reserve Lamar Odom and starting center Brendan Haywood. Odom was sent home with a stomach ailment and Haywood was out with lower back tightness.

Dallas starting point guard Jason Kidd sat out his third straight game with a strained right calf.

The Mavericks trailed by 10 early in the fourth quarter before rallying to tie it at 85 on Shawn Marion’s runner in the lane with 2:14 left.

But Westbrook and Durant connected on consecutive mid-range jumpers, then Westbrook made a 3 from the right wing with 35 seconds to play to give his team a 92-85 advantage.

The Thunder fought back from a nine-point first-half deficit, grabbing a 59-56 lead with 7:25 remaining in the third quarter on consecutive layups by Westbrook. That sparked a 10-2 spurt that put the Thunder ahead 65-58, and Oklahoma City carried a 71-66 edge into the final quarter.

The Ibaka-led defense held Dallas to 3-for-19 shooting from the floor in the third quarter.

Ibaka blocked three shots in the third after swatting four in the second quarter, surpassing his season-high of seven before getting two more early in the fourth to beat his career high of eight.

“Serge was fun to watch,” Durant said. “[Nowitzki] missed some shots he normally hits….I think we frustrated him.”

Dallas got off to a fast start, hitting nine straight field-goal attempts during one stretch in the first quarter to build a 29-21 lead entering the second quarter.

The Mavs went 13 for 19 from the field in the first quarter while the Thunder connected on only 6 of 19.

Oklahoma City got back in the game with a 16-7 second-quarter run for its first lead of the night, 37-36 on Durant’s 16-footer with 7:12 left until halftime.

Dallas held a 52-49 advantage at the break on Roddy Beaubois’ reverse dunk with 29 seconds left and Marion’s follow with less than a second remaining.

Carlisle said Ibaka set a tone with his second-quarter defense after the Mavs got off to such a positive offensive start.

“It was very disruptive,” Carlisle said. “The blocks he had in the second quarter, I thought were really the difference in the game if you look at the big picture.”

Notes

• Dallas entered the night having won nine of 10 at home since opening the season with consecutive losses.
• Oklahoma City was minus starting swingman Thabo Sefalosha due to a sore right foot. The Thunder were also without reserve G Eric Maynor (torn right knee ligament).

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

Associated Press

Posted on February 1, 2012 at 11:14 PM

Updated
yesterday at 11:14 PM

Thanks for reading! .