It shouldn't come as much of a surprise but the Oklahoma City Thunder easily handled the Miami Heat in Florida last night. Kevin Durant had 32 points and nine rebounds, but it was the defence played by Thabo Sefolosha on Dwyane Wade that gave OKC the edge. Wade was just 6-for-19 from the field and had a season worst six turnovers. Sefolosha picked up four steals. He doesn't have the sexiest offensive game in the world, but he makes up for it on defence.- Also, despite Miami's 7-3 start, they needed a Wade buzzer-beater on Saturday night just to defeat the winless New Jersey Nets. Part of the reason for Miami's recent struggles ?Remember when Jermaine O'Neal had two double-doubles to open the season, well last night's (19 pts, 10 rebs)was his first since October 30. He's also battling injury again. He was a beast in his early days, but his many injuries have worn his body down and he just doesn't have the intimidation he once had.
*****
- Speaking of old dudes, Steve Nash is showing no signs of slowing down at all. The Suns trailed the surprising Houston Rockets by 15 points mid way through the second period last night, before storming back to win by six, 111-105. The 59-year-old Nash scored only 12 points, but dished out 16 assists, and Phoenix won its fifth game of the season when trailing after three periods.
- Amare Stoudemire was impressive again offensively, scoring 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting, but he only six rebounds. For someone of his strength and explosiveness, he should be getting 10 boards a game in his sleep.
- Channing Frye is one of the most intriguing stories of the season. The scrawny 6'11" Frye plays at centre but jacks up three-balls like he's Baron Davis, only Frye's shooting the long ball at a 46-percent clip, while Davis fires away at a not so friendly 29-percent.
*****
- One Clipper who's game looks to be coming around is forward Al Thornton. He started out very slowly and scored in double figures once in his first eight games, but is averaging almost 20-points-per-game over his last four. He has tremendous talent, I just hope we get to see it all in Clipperland, but it's never been a particularly great place for a young player to develop.
*****
- The Toronto Raptors defence has improved lately, but Tuesday night against Denver was a poor performance. Toronto gave up seven dunks to the Nuggets in the third quarter and Denver scored 102 points over the last three quarters to blow the Raptors apart...again. Make it six straight wins over the Raptors in Denver.
- To be fair, the altitude in Denver is a component that you don't really have to face in any other city, but seasoned Raptors watchers know that what they witnessed last night didn't have as much to do with lack of oxygen as it did with lack of effort.
*****
- This has nothing to do with sport, a ballsy crocodile gets it...check it out.
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