Oklahoma City Thunder: Bench makes a big difference
To start the second quarter Tuesday night against the Lakers, Scotty Brooks went with his latest version of the B Team: Kevin Martin, Nick Collison, Reggie Jackson, Derek Fisher and Ronnie Brewer. Notably, the Lakers sported a lineup that included Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant.
The Thunder B team played for almost five minutes — 4:51 — and when Kevin Durant and Kendrick Perkins returned, to be joined 30 seconds later by Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka — the Thunder lead had grown from 37-28 to 51-36. That’s a 14-8 edge. Martin hit two foul shots, Collison sank a jumper, Jackson scored on a fast break, Martin swished a 3-pointer, Collison laid in a basket off a Martin assist and finally Fisher nailed a 3-pointer. Meanwhile, the Lakers made just three of nine shots, with one turnover.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JR1Xl-2d5lI" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe> Did you have Kevin Martin in your office pool? As the first Thunder player who would feel the wrath of the league's new flopping regulations? Then congratulations, you won. The NBA fined Martin ,000 on Wednesday afternoon for what they deemed to be a flop in OKC's game against the Nuggets on Sunday. And I have to say, it's easy to agree with the league on this one. Unless Martin took a violent shot to the ribs from Lennay Kekua (too soon?), then this is one of the more egregious violations, complete with the scream and flail. He's only the third player this season to take a wallet hit for a flopping act, joining Minnesota's J.J. Barea and Brooklyn's Reggie Evans. The next violation comes with a ,000 fine. Here's video his original flop, which earned the initial warning: <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m3LcJrYJV9Y" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JR1Xl-2d5lI" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe> Did you have Kevin Martin in your office pool? As the first Thunder player who would feel the wrath of the league's new flopping regulations? Then congratulations, you won. The NBA fined Martin ,000 on Wednesday afternoon for what they deemed to be a flop in OKC's game against the Nuggets on Sunday. And I have to say, it's easy to agree with the league on this one. Unless Martin took a violent shot to the ribs from Lennay Kekua (too soon?), then this is one of the more egregious violations, complete with the scream and flail. He's only the third player this season to take a wallet hit for a flopping act, joining Minnesota's J.J. Barea and Brooklyn's Reggie Evans. The next violation comes with a ,000 fine. Here's video his original flop, which earned the initial warning: <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m3LcJrYJV9Y" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Later in the quarter, when fouls mounted, Brooks turned to Hasheem Thabeet, and the NBA’s tallest player produced more than five minutes of quality play — a basket, an assist and two offensive rebounds.
Follow
