No sweep till Brooklyn for Thunder
OKC wraps up long weekend in NYC with another impressive win
Kevin Durant wore a new uniform, facing a team of strangers wearing his old uniform.
Durant played against the Thunder in his three seasons with the Warriors, but Sunday was his first game against the Thunder as a Net. And it was the first time Durant played a Thunder team that featured none of his former teammates.
That fact was cemented in the offseason when the Thunder traded Steven Adams and moved on from Andre Roberson — both of whom played with Durant in Oklahoma City.
Thunder forward Darius Bazley defended Durant on Sunday night. Bazley was 16 years old when Du rant signed with Golden State in the summer of 2016.
Durant schooled Bazley on a third-quarter drive. Bazley grabbed the ball out of the net and threw it off the stanchion.
Durant, playing without co-star Kyrie Irving (personal reasons ), led the Nets with 36 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. But it wasn't enough. The Thunder topped the Nets 129-116 at Barclays Center to finish 4-1 on its five-game road trip.
Here are four other takeaways from the Thunder's win:
Third-quarter takeover
The Nets blitzed the Thunder 41-29 in the first quarter, and it looked like the rout was on early.
But then the Thunder's bench steadied the game in these condqu art er before the Thunder unleashed its own barrage.
Oklahoma City outscored Brooklyn 37-18 in the third quarter. It was the Thunder' s highest-scoring quarter of the season, and Sunday marked the Thunder' s highest-scoring game of the season.
The Thunder added 35 more points in the fourth quarter to take advantage of the Nets' lackluster defense.
SGA's hot start
Sh ai Gil geo usAlexander drove left against Du rant, but Durant shuffled his feet to stay in front of the Thunder point guard.
Gilgeous-Alexander stopped near the left elbow and lifted for a shot.
Durant fell for the fake and Gilgeous-Alexander stepped through for an easy layup.
The young Thunder star seemed to relish the matchup against the former Thunder star. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the first half.
Gilgeous-Alexander stayed hot in the second half. He scored a seasonhigh 31 points with seven assists and six rebounds.
Hami's homecoming Part 2
Turns out, Madison Square Garden isn't the only New York venue Hamidou Diall o enjoys playing in.
Two days after scoring a season high 23 points against the Knicks, Diallo poured in 13 first-half points against the Nets at Barclays Center.
The Queens, New York, native scored the Thunder' s first nine points of the second quarter.
The Thunder trailed 41-29 at the end of the first quarter, but OKC erased Brooklyn's lead in the second quarter with Dial lo on the floor. He checked out with 3:07 left in the second quarter and the game tied 51-51.
Diallo helped in a variety of ways. He drained a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock. He finished a tough left-handed layup off the glass. And he found Al Horford and Isaiah Roby for nice assists.
Dial lo started the fourth quarter with a dunk to give the Thunder a 15-point lead.
He finished with a season-high 25 points and a career-high four steals.
Center rotation
Mike Muscala (rib contusion) was available to play Sunday, but Thunder coach Mark Daigneault gave Muscala t he night off.
That meant extended minutes for Isaiah Roby as the backup center behind Al Horford.
Roby capitalized on the chance. He scored 13 points with five rebounds.
Horford scored a season-high 22 points with six rebounds.