Hawks at Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are coming off their best performance of the
season and look to produce another strong effort when they host the
Atlanta Hawks on Thursday. Oklahoma City shot 56 percent from the field
and made 13 3-pointers while dismantling the Memphis Grizzlies 125-88 on
Tuesday.
The Thunder not only were knocking down the deep ball against Memphis, but point guard Russell Westbrook had 16 assists to set up several open layups in an outing that was pleasing to coach Billy Donovan. "I would say that it was playing the right way, moving, sharing the ball and finding the open man," Donovan told reporters. "The ball wasn't sticking. A lot of these things that we talk about sometimes are very fleeting." Atlanta won the front end of the road back-to-back with a gritty 98-95 victory over Dallas on Wednesday and held the Mavericks to 36 percent shooting from the field. The Hawks are still trying to regain the form that allowed them to win an Eastern Conference-leading 60 games last season.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Memphis), FSN Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (14-9): Atlanta has been maddeningly inconsistent and has now won consecutive games for the first in more than a month. "It's good. We've got to put together long stretches," shooting guard Kyle Korver said afterward. "We've got to get back to being a consistent team night-in and night-out." One player who has been consistently good is power forward Paul Millsap, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds against Dallas for his sixth double-double in the last 10 games and 11th of the season.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (13-8): Westbrook fell one assist shy of his career high against the Grizzlies and took only seven shots while thriving as a distributor. "I just read the game," Westbrook told reporters. "The game tells you to pass, that's what you do. You've just got to read the game and play the right way." Small forward Kevin Durant had 32 points (on 11-of-14 shooting) and 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double and third in five games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Millsap scored 26 points and PG Jeff Teague added 25 as the Hawks posted a 106-100 home win over the Thunder on Nov. 30.
2. Westbrook is 12-of-20 from the field over the last two games while averaging 16 points and 13 assists.
3. Atlanta C Tiago Splitter (hip) played 12 minutes off the bench against Dallas after missing the previous seven games.