Culture of Hoops

Oklahoma City Thunder Rout the Sacramento Kings, 131-116

Image courtesy of Keith Allison/Flickr.

Image courtesy of Keith Allison/Flickr.

The Sacramento Kings defense is on par, if not worse, than the defense in the Slam Dunk contest. Completely nonexistent.

Once again, Sacramento refused to guard any three-point shooters, went underneath screens set for all-stars, and still appear as befuddled by their own defensive schemes as they were in October. There is no organization on either side of the ball and the team is starting to slip once again.

As frustration continues to amount, the Oklahoma City Thunder were in town on Monday night to claim their win and move on.

The Thunder jumped out to an early lead as Russell Westbrook tallied four points, six rebounds, and seven assists in just the first quarter. This to go along with eight points from Kevin Durant and a four-point lead to end the quarter.

Westbrook then went on to tally a triple-double in third quarter and finished with 20 points, 15 assists, and 13 rebounds. Kevin Durant finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

The Thunder scored 29 points and it was their only quarter scoring under thirty.

DeMarcus Cousins was able to single-handedly keep the game competitive. Scoring 21 first half points, Cousins was the only Kings player in double-digit scoring.

The end of the second quarter was one of the most bizarre calls in sports. Rajon Rondo received two delay of game calls for not picking up the basketball when handed by the referee. Resulting in two technicals foul shots for the Thunder and amounted an eight-point lead heading into half.

“I have never seen anything like that. Ever. Like, never,” commented Cousins at his locker after the game.

The best view of the incident can be viewed here:

The first call:

https://vine.co/v/igi1ajm93pr

The second call:

To continue the second half, Oklahoma’s reserves continued to stand out. The Kings were allowing baskets from both inside the paint as well as from 28+ feet out. Enes Kanter finished the night with 23, Kyle Singler with 11 and Dion Waiters with 22 points. Waiters, a 35 percent three-point shooter, shot 60 percent from behind the arch.

It didn’t end there.

Sacramento gave up a 37 point fourth quarter and shot an abysmal 44.9 percent. Primarily because they took 107 shots.

Sacramento gave up 131 and took another L as the downfall continues to move on.

“The frustration, the confidence right now, there is no question we are little heavy right now. No one is going to feel sorry for us. We need to go out and get one.” George Karl admitted after another home loss.

Omri Casspi was able to tally 16 points to go along with Ben McLemore’s 14 and Darren Collison’s 12 but it still just wasn’t enough. The Kings get on the road and take on the Memphis Grizzlies next. Amidst a tough road trip, the Kings still remain only 4 games out of the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Somehow.

As for the Thunder, they will take on the Clippers on Wednesday night in what will be a showcase game for both teams.

Thunder

STARTERS MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
S. IbakaPF 30 4-12 0-3 4-4 1 6 7 0 0 1 3 3 +12 12
K. DurantSF 32 8-17 4-9 7-7 1 9 10 6 2 1 2 0 +15 27
S. AdamsC 14 2-4 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 0 0 1 5 +1 4
R. WestbrookPG 35 6-8 2-3 6-7 2 11 13 15 3 0 7 2 +2 20
A. RobersonSG 21 1-4 0-2 2-2 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 -14 4
BENCH MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
M. McGaryPF 2 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -6 2
N. CollisonPF 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 -6 0
K. SinglerSF 21 4-6 3-5 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 3 +17 11
E. KanterC 25 11-11 0-0 1-1 1 3 4 0 1 0 1 5 +14 23
C. PaynePG 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 -6 0
R. FoyeSG 24 2-7 2-7 0-0 0 3 3 3 0 1 1 2 +16 6
D. WaitersSG 32 8-11 3-5 3-5 0 2 2 2 1 0 3 0 +30 22
A. MorrowSG DNP-COACH’S DECISION
TEAM 47-82 14-34 23-26 10 37 47 28 7 3 21 23 131
57.3% 41.2% 88.5%
Hide Bench

Kings

STARTERS MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
Q. AcySF 28 5-9 0-1 0-0 4 0 4 2 3 0 0 3 -16 10
D. CousinsC 34 14-33 0-4 7-11 7 5 12 3 4 0 6 3 -10 35
R. RondoPG 36 5-13 0-2 1-2 2 7 9 12 2 0 2 2 -17 11
J. AndersonSG 18 1-5 1-2 0-0 0 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 +6 3
B. McLemoreSG 19 5-12 2-4 2-2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 2 +11 14
BENCH MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
O. CasspiSF 25 7-10 2-5 0-0 3 0 3 2 0 0 1 2 -13 16
W. Cauley-SteinC 16 2-4 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 1 -6 6
K. KoufosC 14 1-5 0-0 1-2 3 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 -5 3
D. CollisonPG 34 5-10 2-5 0-0 1 2 3 4 0 0 0 2 -24 12
M. BelinelliSG 16 3-6 0-2 0-0 0 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 -1 6
C. ButlerSF DNP-COACH’S DECISION
R. GaySF DNP-RIGHT SHOULDER
S. CurrySG DNP-RIGHT FOOT
TEAM 48-107 7-25 13-19 22 24 46 28 11 0 10 16 116
44.9% 28.0% 68.4%
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