Thunder sends message in win over Rockets

Behind a 122-104 rout of Houston, the Thunder all but eliminated the Rockets from creeping into one of the Western Conference’s final playoff seeds.

The Thunder improved to 43-27, a full seven games ahead of the Rockets with 12 games remaining on both teams’ schedules. Houston’s chances of making the postseason now rest on Portland crashing and burning down the stretch. And that seems a remote possibility.

Oklahoma City’s victory, coupled with a New Orleans loss to Cleveland on Wednesday night, prevents the 11th-seeded Hornets from finishing ahead of the Thunder as well.

"It was a great game for us,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "We came back after a tough loss against the Spurs and played great basketball.”

For the moment, the victory puts to rest questions about the direction this Thunder team is headed down the stretch. After winning five straight and eight of nine, Oklahoma City had lost three of its past four games, including what anyone with a pulse would consider bad losses at Charlotte and at Indiana last week. The current four-game homestand began with encouraging effort but a three-point loss nonetheless to San Antonio.

Brooks and several players, however, insisted they weren’t growing concerned.

"I wanted to just see how the team would react,” said Russell Westbrook. "And I think we did a good job as a team of coming out and competing and playing together.”

In a much smaller victory of sorts, the Thunder defeated the Rockets for the first time since April 4, 2006, when the team still was in Seattle and Nick Collison was the only current player on the roster.

The Thunder put on one of its best offensive showings this season, leading by as many as 25 points, scoring 101 points through three quarters and shooting 58.8 percent for the game. Brooks challenged his team before the game to record at least 25 assists, and the Thunder went out and tied a season-high with 30.

Crisp ball movement and dead-eye shooting led to a 39-25 lead on 81-percent shooting after one quarter and a 74-57 lead at the half. The Thunder’s point total in the first half is a season-high and the most the Thunder franchise has scored in a half in Oklahoma City.

"If we share the basketball, it’s tough to stop us,” said reserve point guard Eric Maynor, who had 10 points and nine assists.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 25 points. Rookie James Harden returned from a six-game absence to score 23 points off the bench. Jeff Green had 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.

The Thunder’s defense again sparked the victory, as OKC held the Rockets to 40.9-percent shooting and limited Houston to just eight fast-break points. Luis Scola scored a team-high 25, and Trevor Ariza finished with 20 points. But Kevin Martin had just eight points in 28 minutes. The Thunder also had 12 blocked shots, led by Serge Ibaka’s four.

Perhaps the most telling sign of the team’s renewed focus is leading wire-to-wire and never allowing the Rockets to pull closer than 13 after the first quarter. The dominance mirrored the 26-point blowout win at Toronto after the Thunder blew a 19-point lead at Charlotte.

"That’s us maturing from that,” Green said. "We kept our composure and didn’t allow them to make runs.”

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