More free basketball, but this time OKC doesn't close out New Jersey

In the Thunder's second straight overtime game on the road, Oklahoma City came up short. In OT tonight, the difference was a slow start. The Nets jumped out 7-0 in the extra period while the Thunder missed two shots and turned it over twice before scoring. It all ended up leading to a 103-99 loss to New Jersey.

But they did show some solid resiliency getting back to within two, but the team was gassed. Jeff Green and Kevin Durant both went 48 tonight. Nenad Krstic played a season-high 23. Russell Westbrook played 37 and Earl Watson 38. It was a long, hard-fought night for OKC.

Two things stick out as reasons OKC lost -- turnovers and rebounding. The Nets piled up 18 offensive boards on the Thunder and OKC turned it over 22 times. That's a total of 40 extra, free possessions New Jersey got tonight. Plus the Nets scored 26 points off the 22 turns. That's bad.

If I were to second guess anything tonight, it has to be the final play of regulation. I understand what Scott Brooks is trying to do there. You've got Russell Westbrook who is an elite leaper and the Nets have their seven-footer, Brook Lopez, pulled out of the lane guarding the inbounds pass. So OKC tried to go up top to RW for a tip-in to win. But there was 0.5 seconds left in the game which is enough for a catch and shoot. And Kevin Durant is maybe the toughest man in the world to guard on a catch and shoot. He's so long that he can get his shot over basically anyone. I'd rather see KD hoist a 29-footer than an oop attempt at the buzzer. That sort of oop is like the equivalent of a Hail Mary in football -- high risk, high reward. Oh well. If it goes in then I don't make a peep.

Since it seems I have to spend at least one paragraph per recap heaping praise upon Russell Westbrook, let me just say this about RW -- I've been saying he's got that little jumper coming along nicely, but now he's expanding on it. Tonight, he used a great baseline dribble-drive, floated out toward the three-point line, took one hard faux step in and bounced back for a sweet 15-footer. That's the move that can make him absolutely lethal. He's so freaking lightning quick that every opposing guard is doing to fear his drive. But now with a fake push and a step-back jay, he's deadly. It opens up his drive even more and he could see more points, more assists and more everything from that. Oh, and he only turned it over two times in 37 minutes, scored 17 and dished four assists.

And Earl Watson has played very well the last two. I've been very frustrated over the first two and half months with his play, but he's been extremely productive the last few. And evidently, it's because he's healthy. He had 11 and nine assists and does an excellent job throwing opposing teams a changeup when he steps on the floor. Westbrook creates, Watson distributes. It works pretty well.

One thing about the Nets: Brook Lopez is going to be a very solid big man in this league. He's got freakishly sweet hands, his footwork is great and he's seven-feet tall. He torched OKC scoring 31 and grabbing 13 rebounds -- five of them being offensive. Nick Collison did all he could to hang with the bigger Lopez and Krispy has never been known as a great defender and plus he's rusty. It was a perfect recipe for a career night for Lopez.

But I have to give it up to the Thunder for showing up tonight on the road and taking a .500 team to overtime. And on top of that, OKC got the TWO stops it had to have at the end of regulation. And on top of that, the big 11-3 run to tie the game at 88-88 to even give the Thunder a chance. Those a more baby steps in the thousand mile march to respectability. But look at it this way -- since Dec. 31, OKC is 3-4 with two two-point losses and one overtime loss. I know it's easy to coulda, shoulda, but geez, the Thunder's just 11 measely points away from away from being 6-1 in that stretch.

One quick travel day back home and OKC gets ready to take on the Jazz Wednesday night at the Ford Center. I don't know -- I feel a big home win coming. Just like Marc Stein said in today's power rankings, it's strange to feel this much optimism for a 6-33 team, but it's there.

Thunder at Nets: Pre-game view

vs.

Oklahoma City Thunder (6-32) vs. New Jersey Nets (18-19)
Big Monday, Jan. 12
Izod Center
East Rutherford, New Jersey
6:30 PM CST

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Since Dec. 31, OKC is 3-3. That's .500. That's awesome. Throw in a very nice road win against a sluggish Bulls team and I'm feeling strangely good about a 6-32 team. Oh and also, 10 minus six is... let's see... four. That means four more wins and nobody says anything about Worst Team Ever anymore. And better yet, there's 44 games left! In order to tie the 1972-73 Sixers, OKC would have to go 3-41 the rest of the way. No way that's happening. Especially because I think the Thunder's going to notch No. 7 tonight. That's right.

The Nets are a two man scoring team. Devin Harris and Vince Carter. That's really it. Brook Lopez is a nice rookie averaging about 10 a game. YI Jianlian is an ALL-STAR!?? that's getting about 10 a game (seriously, no more fan vote for All-Star games anymore. I bet Penny Hardaway still gets a couple thousand votes still just because people don't know). Jarvis Hayes hits some threes, Bobby Simmons is a good role player and Ryan Anderson is a decent big, but there's not a lot to the Nets. But there will be an Eduardo Najera sighting which makes me happy. I love Eddie Naj.

But OKC matches the Nets well. And add in the fact that New Jersey is worse at home (8-12) than they are on the road (10-7) and that leads me to lean OKC. More than likely there will be 45 people there tonight and that's including the two teams' entire rosters. So if the Thunder come out with energy and excitement, they could jump on top of the Nets. Because empty arenas typically tend to lead to unexcited home teams. Throw in the fact that Yi won't be playing and Devin Harris is still hurting and is questionable.

A couple good storylines to pay attention to within the game:
Nenad Krstic versus his former franchise. Is it a big deal? Does this even register on the Revenge Scale? I don't think Krstic holds any grudge against the Nets, but I'm sure he is a little miffed they didn't sign him to an extension regardless of a busted knee. Each game Krstic plays, the more acclimated and less rusty he gets. Tonight would be a good game to break out with.

Russell Westbrook vs. Devin Harris (assuming Harris plays). Quick on quick. Speed on speed. Both players attack the rim with reckless abandon, except Harris has a more consistent jumper. Both are very good defenders and both are catching more and more attention. Westbrook finally had a "bad" game against the Bulls but now his bad ones are a 3-16, six points, five turnovers showing but rather a 5-20, 14 point, 12 rebound performance. A major, major key will be Russell staying in front of Harris and limiting his penetration.

Helllooo Nick Collison! Finally. Seriously, finally. In Collison's last three games since returning from injury, he's averaged 15.3 ppg and 9.7 rpg. That's what I'm taking about.

Kevin Durant's turnovers. KD has been so awesome lately scoring 28 and grabbing 12 boards against Chicago. But he turned it over six times. And that's on top of the seven he had against Houston. I wrote about his carelessness with the rock about a week ago and I've talked about his struggles in ball-handling too (I actually have a theory for this), but he's got to do better here. Right now, that's what is holding his PER down and is keeping him from being an elite player.

A road trip can wear on a young team especially when that team will being playing its fifth game in seven days. But like I said, energy is key tonight. The crowd will be non-existent and the Nets won't be at full strentgh. If OKC can play with confidence early, I think I smell a winning streak.