Easy As 123: Thunder's Scoring Explosion Gives Knicks A Blue Christmas

J.R. Smith and the Knicks had no answer for Kevin Durant and the Thunder. <br />

Wednesday, December 25th 2013, 5:32 pm

By: News 9


The Thunder's Christmas-Day uniforms can best be described as Ho Ho Horrible. The same goes for the Knicks defense.

Santa brought the Thunder (23-5) a big bag of points this Christmas as Oklahoma City unwrapped a 123-94 win at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Don't worry, though; Santa didn't forget about New York (9-19). But instead of lumps of coal, he brought the underachieving Knicks a pile of bricks. New York shot just 38-90 (42.2 percent) from the floor and a woeful 6-23 (26.1 percent) from 3-point range.

Five Thunder players reached double-figure scoring, led by Kevin Durant's 29. Serge Ibaka added 24 points while Russell Westbrook only scored 14, but recorded a triple-double with 13 boards and 10 assists.

Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb continued their strong play, combining for 31 points off the OKC bench. The Thunder shot 53.6 percent from the field and a whopping 13-24 (54.2 percent) from downtown. Oklahoma City also found success in transition, outscoring the Knicks 18-8 on the fast break.

The Thunder was very consistent as it used all 48 minutes to gradually turn this one into a blowout. Oklahoma City outscored New York by six in the first quarter, by eight in the second quarter, by six in the third and by nine in the fourth. The Thunder's 25 second-quarter points was their game-low.

Amare Stoudemire led the shorthanded Knicks, which played without starters Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton. Stoudemire scored 22 points on 10-16 shooting in just 27 minutes off the New York bench. Rookie point guard Tim Hardaway Jr. also gave the Knicks a strong performance off the pine, pouring in 21 points. J.R. Smith was the only other Knick in double-digits, scoring 20 points on 22 shots. Despite the points, their defense was a disaster. Those three players combined for a -72 on the +/- scale.

The Thunder improved to 3-1 on Christmas-Day games since moving to Oklahoma City.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

December 25th, 2013

March 14th, 2024

December 4th, 2023

September 25th, 2023

Top Headlines

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024