Thunder beats Sacramento Kings in opener
Thunder 102, Kings 89
BY JEFF LATZKE
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Published: October 29, 2009
Kevin Durant had 25 points and 11 rebounds, Jeff Green added 24 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder led from start to finish in a 102-89 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night at the Ford Center in the season opener for both teams.
Oklahoma City hit 10 of its first 13 shots and built a double-digit lead in the first 6 minutes of the game, then never let Sacramento mount a serious comeback in
Paul Westphal’s debut as coach.
Nenad Krstic added 20 points and
Russell Westbrook had 14 points and a career-high 13 assists for the Thunder.
Kevin Martin made all 14 of his free throw attempts in the first half to keep Sacramento within striking distance, but had just three points after halftime to finish with 27. The NBA’s seventh-leading scorer last season, he missed his last seven shots after hitting a 3-pointer to start the second half.
First-round draft picks
Tyreke Evans and
Omri Casspi combined for 25 points for Sacramento, and
Jason Thompson had 11 points and nine rebounds. Evans, the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft, shot just 5 for 16 and had 10 points, two assists and three turnovers. Casspi, the first Israeli-born player in the
NBA, had 15 points on 7 for 9 shooting.
The start was exactly what the Thunder needed after opening their first season in Oklahoma City 3-29 a year ago.
Oklahoma City shot 67 percent in the first quarter and matched its highest output in a period from last season to rush out to a 39-22 lead. The Thunder eventually built their advantage to 23 points in a game that looked nothing like Sacramento’s 104-89 rout of Oklahoma City on the same floor six days earlier.
In that game, Sacramento got hot from 3-point range in the second quarter and led by 31 after three despite playing without Martin.
Green hit his first four 3-point attempts to lead an 8-for-14 outing for Oklahoma City, which snapped a five-game losing streak in season openers that dated to the franchise’s days in
Seattle.
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Not only was it a sell-out, but it was an impressive win. Granted it was the Kings, but anyone who watched the game saw a pretty confident and smart ball club.