Oklahoma City gets a good win against Bucks

By Addam Francisco

After losing 3 of their last 4 games, Oklahoma City does a great job bouncing back on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks, winning 104-96. This game started very well for this team when they got off to a 22-4 start, and ended the first quarter with a 20-point, 32-12 lead. 

This was a pretty complete game and a trend has been noticed. It seems like when Enes Kanter has all-around games, this team plays so much better. Tonight he had a double-double at halftime and finished with 18 points and 12 assists...four of which were offensive rebounds that either resulted in second-chance points or another possession for his team. Russell Westbrook had a seemingly quiet night offensively because he didn't score 35-plus points, but he did have 15 points (off just 7 shots), 11 assists and 10 rebounds, which is yet, another all-around type of game for him and obviously another triple-double, which is his 10th of the year. It seems like when there is balanced scoring with this team, things end very well. Steven Adams was also another one of five Thunder players in double-figures with 14 points and 8 rebounds and Serge Ibaka added 13 points off 5-of-11 shooting. However, there's always going to be one player that had a huge game statistically speaking, Kevin Durant was that guy, finishing with a game-high 32 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. Kyle Singler and Andre Roberson started the game off strong, but tapered off late in the game. They combined for 10 points though, which helped lay a foundation for this team to control the remainder of the game. 

Once again, if Oklahoma City wants to be a championship contending team, they are going to have to play games like this all the way through. They had a slight let down in the third quarter where they allowed the Bucks to get within one possession, but due to a great defensive fourth quarter by the Thunder, holding the Bucks to just 17 points, they pulled out the win. 

Oklahoma City will have a couple days off until their next test against Western Conference rival, the Los Angeles Clippers who they played during this long road trip earlier in the week and blew a 22-point lead in a loss. The Clippers are actually chasing OKC for the third spot in the West, and that's a spot that we don't want to give up, especially considering the fact that in the playoffs, the second round matchup would be against the Golden State Warriors. OKC will play Los Angeles Wednesday at 8 p.m. back at home in the Chesapeake Energy Arena.