Nets at Thunder Recap: Beating the Best of the West

After perhaps the worst loss of the season against the Spurs, the Nets came into Oklahoma City to beat the Thunder 110-93. This now becomes the best win of the season and should now show the rest of the league that Brooklyn is for real. The Thunder held the best record in the NBA coming into tonight.

Things started very quickly for the Nets. They came out firing instantly and completely shut down the Thunder in every aspect of the game. The Nets' big three of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, and Brook Lopez were the three key players of the game. Johnson scored 15 points in the first quarter while Brook Lopez put up 10. After leading by 23 at one point, the Nets came back to earth in the second quarter, but still didn't let up much. They led 61-45 going into halftime.

Then the third quarter came along. With many Nets fans wishing that the third quarter could be skipped over, the Nets played it. And didn't play it well. Again. The Thunder scored first off of a turnover within 10 seconds of the half beginning. That left us all thinking "here we go again." They would score just 15 points in the third while allowing Oklahoma City to put up 27. The lead ended up completely disappearing in the fourth quarter, as Oklahoma City tied the game at 85. But then the Nets stars took control and led them the rest of the way. Brooklyn would finish the game on an extended run of 25-8, and shut down the Thunder for good after Kevin Durant was ejected for the first time in his NBA career.

Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, and Brook Lopez all deserve to be named players of the game. Johnson would finish with 33 points and five rebounds. Deron finished with 19 points and 13 assists, and Lopez finished with 25 points and five rebounds. That's a combined 77 points for Brooklyn's big three.

The most important part of this game is that it looks like Deron Williams has found confidence, and he played like the Deron from his Utah days. He was drawing fouls, driving to the basket, and setting his teammates up for easy baskets. A game like this can put a struggling superstar back on track.

Final Score: 110-93 Nets
Most Disappointing Stats of the Game: 15 points scored in third quarter
Promising Stat of the Game: Joe Johnson shooting 11-19 from the field. 5-10 from three.. 
Scary Moment of the Game: OKC tying the game early in the fourth quarter.
Best Moment(s) of the Game: Brook Lopez dunking on Serge Ibaka


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