OKC Thunder Begins Season With Win over Bulls

The game was close for much of the night, but the Thunder used a late run to pull away.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:00 pm

By: News On 6

OKC Thunder Begins Season With Win over Bulls

Originally Published: Oct 27, 2010 10:50 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Thunder used strong fourth-quarter defense and a late rally to win its season opener 106-95 over the Chicago Bulls Wednesday.

The two teams went back and forth through the first three quarters and entered the fourth tied 82-82. The seesaw battle continued for much of the final frame, until the Thunder (1-0) took over with four minutes left.

Leading 93-91, OKC began dominating on both ends of the floor. Thabo Sefolosha led the defensive charge, recording a key block and steal to spark a Thunder run.

The Bulls (0-1) went a full two minutes without scoring, allowing Oklahoma City to go on an 11-0 run to take the largest lead of the contest and put the game out of reach. The victory spoiled the first game of Tom Thibodeau as the Bulls’ head coach.

Kevin Durant led all scorers with 30 points, scoring 15 in each half. He fell hard to the floor at the end of the third quarter and rolled on the court in pain, but only missed a few minutes of playing time.

Russell Westbrook scored 28 points – along with a team-high 10 rebounds and six assists – and Jeff Green added 21. Sefolosha did not make a field goal all night, but finished with two steals and four blocked shots.

Derrick Rose led Chicago with 28 points, and Joakim Noah scored 18 points and dominated the board with 19 rebounds. Four of the Bulls’ five starters scored in double figures.

The Thunder’s offense struggled through parts of the night and finished shooting 41 percent from the field. OKC also took 11 fewer shots than the Bulls, but showed a knack for getting to the free-throw line.

The Thunder took 38 free throws – nearly doubling Chicago’s 20 – and made 31 of them. Westbrook and Durant combined to score a total of 17 points from the charity stripe alone.

Wednesday marked the second consecutive year that the Thunder won its season opener, and it will try to keep that momentum going with its first road game Friday against the Detroit Pistons.