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OKLAHOMA CITY -- There will be times the Oklahoma City Thunder will miss Russell Westbrook as he rehabs from another knee surgery, but Sunday certainly wasnt one of those nights. Kevin Durant had 33 points, 13 rebounds and five assists and the Thunder won their second straight game without Westbrook, beating the Houston Rockets 117-86. Jeremy Lamb added a career-high 22 points (on 8 of 10 shooting) and five assists for Oklahoma City, which has the NBAs best record at 25-5. The Thunder have won 12 of their last 13 and 20 of their last 22 games. Reggie Jackson, starting in Westbrooks place, had 16 points and eight assists as the Thunder never trailed and led by as many as 32 points against a team they beat in six games in the first round of last seasons playoffs. Durant said the experience of playing without Westbrook for the final four games of that series and the rest of the playoffs prepared the Thunder for what they must face now. "Its still tough not having him here, but we know what we have to do now," Durant said. "We learned from our mistakes last time. Hopefully we just keep getting better and when he comes back its kind of a seamless transition for us." Oklahoma City shot 57 per cent from the field (47 of 82) in dealing the Rockets their worst loss of the season. The Thunder held James Harden to eight points on 2-of-9 shooting, while Dwight Howard, often stymied by Oklahoma City centre Kendrick Perkins, had nine points on 4-of-13 shooting and nine rebounds. "That team is a very, very high-powered offence," Durant said. "Theyre so quick up the floor. We just wanted to let them see bodies and just play hard. . Weve got to do a better job (defensively) but tonight was a step in the right direction." Aaron Brooks had 17 points and Chandler Parsons scored 15 for Houston, which was playing its fourth game in five days. The Rockets, who had a three-game winning streak snapped, missed their first 12 shots and shot 36.5 per cent from the field (31 of 85). Houston coach Kevin McHale wouldnt use fatigue as an excuse for the Rockets performance. "Youre playing basketball," McHale said, shaking his head. "Youre not logging tall timbers, believe me. Four games in five nights ... next question. "We couldnt stop them. We couldnt run. We had nothing." Oklahoma City is 3-2 this season without Westbrook. The All-Star point guard underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Friday, his third surgery since last April, when he tore his meniscus after Houston guard Patrick Beverley banged knees with him as Westbrook tried to call a timeout in Game 2 of last seasons playoff series. The Thunder have said Westbrooks latest surgery will sideline him until after the All-Star break. Oklahoma City won 89-85 at Charlotte on Friday night in their first game since that surgery, as Durant had 34 points and 12 rebounds. "The teams going to pick it up," Jackson said. "Were going to do things collectively. Were going to find a way to play, but we all know our limitations. We all know what were good at. . We dont know, necessarily, where well get it from each and every night, but were just trying to go ahead and find our shots and continue to take them." Oklahoma City jumped to a 13-0 lead as the Rockets failed to score until Howard hit a 3-foot jump hook with 5:27 left in the first quarter. The Thunder extended their lead to 22-5 on a driving layup by Thabo Sefolosha and were up 26-14 at the end of the quarter. The Thunders lead stayed in double digits most of the second quarter and Oklahoma City led 56-44 at halftime. Parsons opened the second half with a corner 3-pointer to pull the Rockets within nine points, but Durant hit two 3-pointers and Jackson had another during a 15-0 run to give Oklahoma City its biggest lead to that point at 71-47. Houston came no closer than 17 points the rest of the way. "We just had a tough time making shots tonight," Howard said. "That happens. Weve got to come out better. Weve got to find a way to get ourselves going. Thats it." Houston also struggled at the free throw line, hitting just 17 of 31 attempts (54.8 per cent). Sefolosha scored 13 points, one off his season high, for Oklahoma City. Omri Casspi added 15 points for the Rockets. Notes: Harden, a former fan favourite with the Thunder before being traded to Houston before last season, received a strong mix of boos and cheers during pregame introductions. Right before the tipoff, Harden walked over to the Thunder bench to greet some of his former teammates and coaches ... Houstons 14-point first quarter was a season low and the Rockets second-lowest quarter of the season . Brooks hit a halfcourt shot at the end of the third quarter, which pulled the Rockets within 90-70. . The club says its first-choice centre back "underwent medical tests on Wednesday morning" which confirmed he has injured his right hamstring. The injury was caused in the second minute of Tuesdays 4-1 league win over Real Sociedad in the Camp Nou when teammate Sergio Busquets accidentally struck Mascherano just above the knee with an outstretched boot. . On a hot, sweaty day, the Hall of Famer looked cool and comfortable. http://www.cheapredsoxjerseysauthentic. ... rel-jersey. There, I saw a teenaged boy with tears in his eyes, being consoled by strength and conditioning coach Randy Lee. . Fabio Fognini pulled off a surprise 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray to level the best-of-five quarterfinal at 2-2 before Andreas Seppi defeated James Ward 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive match. . When a game is in the balance, however, they still have the personnel and the experience to end up with the two points.ATLANTA - The changes keep coming for the Atlanta Braves.Already in the market for a general manager, theyll have to hire a new hitting coach as well.Greg Walker resigned from the coaching staff Tuesday, a move that was expected after the Braves struggled through a miserable season offensively.Atlanta batted .241 as a team and scored only 573 runs, the second-lowest total in the majors. Only seven teams hit fewer homers than the Braves (123), an especially troubling number because the team had the fourth-most strikeouts (1,369) and was supposedly built for power.Down the stretch, the offence was especially feeble. The Braves lost 18 of their final 25 games to fall out of playoff contention, a stretch that included six shutouts and an average of less than 2.4 runs per game.In a statement issued by the team, Walker said he told manager Fredi Gonzalez of the decision to quit during the final weekend of the season at Philadelphia.I grew up in south Georgia and have been a Braves fan my whole life, said Walker, a native of Douglas. I am grateful for the opportunity they gave me.Walker had been the hitting coach for three years, coming to Atlantaa after serving in the same position with the Chicago White Sox from 2003-11.ddddddddddddonzalez is scheduled to meet Wednesday with interim general manager John Hart, a session that could lead to more changes on the coaching staff. Walkers assistant hitting coach, Scott Fletcher, is also thought to be in jeopardy.Its so easy to blame the coaches in any sport, Gonzalez said the day after the season ended. Would I like to keep my staff completely? Absolutely. Is that going to happen? Ill call you as soon as I get out of the meeting.The Braves began their overhaul by firing general manager Frank Wren with a week to go in the season. They finished 79-83, only their third losing season in the last 24 years.The new GM will be hired by a committee comprised of Hart, team president John Schuerholz and former manager Bobby Cox.Cox has expressed strong support for keeping Gonzalez as manager, but the new GM will likely have the final say on whether theres a change in the dugout.I feel more for the coaches than I do myself, Gonzalez said. Thats part of it from my end.___Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 ' ' ' |
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