The good news is that the Oklahoma City Thunder still have the best overall record in the NBA at 16-4. The bad news is that they were just served notice of another dynamic young team aiming for Western Conference supremacy as well.
Last night’s 112-100 win by the Los Angeles Clippers over the Thunder at the Staples Center featured strong performances from Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, but the rest of the team shot poorly. Blake Griffin’s amazing dunks proved to be too much, fed by Chris Paul’s 14 assists, who also scored 26 points of his own.
The Clippers had a total team effort with Caron Butler scoring 22 as well as Griffin and DeAndre Jordan throwing down 11 points and 11 rebounds to go with 3 blocks.
Durant had a game high 36 points and 13 rebounds, and Westbrook added a strong 31 points as well. But James Harden was 2 of 10 shooting and couldn’t provide that third scorer needed.
Up next for the Thunder is a road trip to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.