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The Oklahoma City Thunder has assigned guard Jeremy Lamb to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
Lamb, who was originally acquired from the Houston Rockets along with Kevin Martin on Oct. 27, has appeared in eight games this season averaging 2.1 points in 4.3 minutes.
He will be in uniform when the Tulsa 66ers take on the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Nov. 30 at the SpiritBank Event Center.
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James Harden’s return to Oklahoma City was only a small part of an emotional day for the Houston Rockets.
Kevin Durant matched his season high with 37 points and the Thunder beat Houston 120-98 on Wednesday night, after the Rockets made a stop in Minnesota earlier in the day to attend the funeral of coach Kevin McHale’s daughter.
Harden scored 17 points, but was limited to 3-for-16 shooting. He had six shots blocked by the Thunder.
After a draining 24 hours, he was ready to put it behind him.
”It felt good just to be competing against those guys and finally get this over with, to play here and get it over with,” Harden said. ”Now, I can continue on with the season.”
Harden missed his first nine shots, and by the time he made one, the Rockets were down by double digits in the second half. They never got closer than 10 after that.
— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press
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The Thunder have the third-most effective offense in the league thus far, even with ESPN.com’s John Hollinger tearing at the inefficiency in their starting lineup last week.
“After the trade, it was come in and do your job,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “We said, ‘This is what we need from you guys,’ and they’ve done that.”
Last season with Harden, the Thunder averaged 107 points per 100 possessions, shot 47 percent overall and were second in the league in getting to the foul line at 26 times per game. Harden and his 16.8 scoring average, 49 percent shooting and 6 free throws per game were a big part of it.
A month after the trade, the Thunder are averaging 109 points per 100 possessions, shooting 48 percent overall and are second in the league in getting to the foul line at 28 times per game. Kevin Martin, Harden’s replacement, and his 15.7 scoring average, 46 percent shooting and 5 free throws a game are a big part of it.
— Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com
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Memphis forward Zach Randolph has been fined $25,000 for confronting Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins in the lockerroom area following their ejections with 2:05 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Grizzlies at Thunder game on Nov. 14, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations.
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The Miami Heat’s LeBron James and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant were today named Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Nov. 12, through Sunday, Nov. 18.
In guiding the Heat to a 3-1 week, James averaged a league-best 29.0, while adding 7.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.25 blocks. James’ week included a personal season-high 38 points Nov. 12 at Houston in which he scored 32 in the second half while leading the Heat to a come-from-behind 113-110 victory. The 32 second-half points tied the franchise record for points in any half.
Durant helped the Thunder to a 3-1 week by averaging a point/rebound double-double, which included a Western Conference-best 28.0 ppg and a team-high 10.3 rpg. Durant added 5.8 apg, 1.75 spg and 1.75 bpg. He capped off his week by posting his first career triple-double – 25 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists – in the Thunder’s 119-109 win over the Golden State Warriors Sunday.
Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Atlanta’s Kyle Korver, Charlotte’s Kemba Walker, Detroit’s Greg Monroe, Memphis’ Marc Gasol, Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph, Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings, New York’s Raymond Felton, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, Portland’s Nicolas Batum, and Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan and Jose Calderon.
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Kevin Durant notched his first career triple-double with 25 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Golden State Warriors 119-109 on Sunday night.
The three-time NBA scoring champion has had growing pains this season as he has tried to improve his floor game, with a bump in his assist number coinciding with an increase in his turnovers, too. He came in averaging four turnovers per game, the fourth-worst in the league…
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 22 points, and David Lee chipped in 19 points and 10 rebounds.
— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press
InsideHoops.com Notes: Russell Westbrook was a monster today, shooting 12-of-22 for 30 points, seven assists and five steals. The Thunder also got 23 points and five assists from Kevin Martin off the bench. Forward Serge Ibaka added 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks… OKC hit 13-of-20 from three-point range and 22-of-26 from the free throw line… In the loss, the Warriors shot an impressive 52.4 percent.
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As is the NBA’s standard procedure, the league is investigating Wednesday night’s confrontation between Thunder center Kendrick Perkins and Memphis power forward Zach Randolph at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Both players were ejected with 2:05 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Grizzlies’ 107-97 victory and had an altercation in a hallway near the Thunder locker room after leaving the court. The players were separated by Oklahoma City police officers patrolling the area.
Security officials later said there was no altercation and there would be no investigation, but the league office confirmed Thursday it was looking into the incident to potentially levy fines and/or suspensions for both players…
The game was nationally televised on ESPN and a courtside microphone picked up what was said.
Perkins: “I’ll meet you by the bus.”
Randolph: “I’ll beat your (expletive).”
— Reported by John Rohde of the Oklahoman
The Thunder welcomes a new member of its executive team this week with the hiring of Tony Driscoll as vice president of Business Development.
Driscoll most recently served as vice president of sales and business development for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), working out of Charlotte for the California-based organization.
Prior to that, he worked in several roles with the International Speedway Corporation (ISC), which owns and/or operates 13 NASCAR racetracks around the country. Over the course of 10 years with ISC, Driscoll rose to the position of senior director of partnership and integrated media sales, where he successfully developed and executed an expansive strategy to cultivate new partners, renew existing sponsorships and integrate sales for numerous media outlets into the organization’s corporate sales unit.
Driscoll is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich.
“Tony is an outstanding leader, and we are so proud to have him join our team,” said Danny Barth, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for the Thunder. “I’m confident that Tony will help take our Business Development team, which already has an excellent track record, to new levels of success in expanding our sponsorship opportunities and growing relationships with our existing partners.”
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Kevin Durant scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Chicago Bulls 97-91 on Thursday night.
Durant iced the game with an off-balance jumper off one foot with 35.1 seconds to play.
Serge Ibaka scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half, and had a team-high nine rebounds for the Thunder, who beat the Bulls for the third time in their last four games at Chicago. Russell Westbrook chipped in with 16 points and 12 assists.
Luol Deng led the Bulls with 27 points, and Richard Hamilton added 20 points and eight rebounds. Joakim Noah had nine points, 13 rebounds and a team-high six assists.
Hamilton made a tying jumper with 2:52 to play, but then Durant took over, making a floater from the top of the key over Deng to keep the Bulls at bay…
It was a season-high point total for Durant, who entered averaging 20.8 points after scoring a league-best 28.0 points per game last season.
— Reported by Bradford Doolittle of the Associated Press
InsideHoops.com notes: Russell Westbrook shot just 7-of-22 for 16 points, though he dished 12 assists with just two turnovers… Thunder center Kendrick Perkins went scoreless in 20 minutes of play… Thunder guard Kevin Martin came off the bench to produce 15 points on just five shot attempts (he hit 8-of-9 free throws)… For the Bulls, Carlos Boozer struggled, shooting just 3-of-9 for 9 points, 11 rebounds and five turnovers.
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AS EXPECTED, JAMES HARDEN IS GETTIN’ PAID, SON
Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has signed newly acquired guard James Harden to a multi-year contract extension. According to the Houston Chronicle, deal is for five years, $78.6 million.
“James Harden is the foundational-type player we have been looking to add,” said Rockets Owner Leslie Alexander. “He is a tremendous, young player with the ability and skill set to be an All-Star. He is ready to make the next move up to join the elite players in the NBA. As I said when we traded for James, he along with the mix of young players we already have in place, such as Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons and Omer Asik, gives us a solid group of young, talented players who will help get us back to a championship level.”
Harden (6-5, 225, Arizona State) has averaged 12.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.06 steals in 220 regular season games (seven starts) with Oklahoma City. Additionally, he has averaged 13.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 43 career playoff games. An Olympic gold medalist and the NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Harden enjoyed a breakout season in 2011-12 by establishing career-high averages in points (16.8), rebounds (4.1), assists (3.7), shooting percentage (.491), 3-point field goal percentage (.390) and free throw percentage (.846), as well as playing in a career-most 31.4 minutes per game. After leading all NBA reserves in scoring average last season, Harden became the youngest recipient of the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. Selected by the Thunder with the third overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft, Harden also earned NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors in 2009-10.