OKC Thunder Blog – Page 93 – NBA Blog

Durant scores 31 as Thunder stun Spurs again

The AP reports: Kevin Durant scored 31 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder continued to torment the San Antonio Spurs with a 96-95 victory Tuesday night… Russell Westbrook had 16 points and 10 assists for the Thunder, who fought off a furious rally from the Spurs to break a three-game losing streak and win in San Antonio for the first time since 2004.

InsideHoops.com notes: For the Spurs, Tim Duncan shot 9-of-12 for 21 points and 12 rebounds. Manu Ginobili scored 17, and Tony Parker was quiet with 11 points and as many turnovers as assists. Mike Finley shot just 5-of-16, and no one else stepped up.

OKC Thunder sign Shaun Livingston

The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed guard Shaun Livingston to a multi-year deal, Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not announced.

Livingston, 23, is being called-up from the NBA Developmental League’s Tulsa 66ers, where he averaged 9.5 points, 6.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 29.4 minutes in 11 games (10 starts). At the time of his call-up, the 6’7’’ guard ranked seventh in the D-League in assists (6.0). He scored a season-high 22 points on March 27 at Rio Grande Valley Vipers and dished out a season-best 11 assists against Iowa Energy on March 12.

Originally selected by the L.A. Clippers in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft (#4 overall), he has appeared in 149 NBA games with L.A. Clippers and Miami. The Peoria, Illinois native owns career averages of 7.3 points, 4.7 assists, 3.1 rebounds in 26.8 minutes per contest.

Livingston, who will wear jersey #14 with the Thunder, becomes the 19th Call-Up of the 2008-09 season and the 137th player since the league began play in 2001.

Thunder recall D.J. White from D-League

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has recalled forward D.J. White from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.

White was assigned to Tulsa for the second time this season on March 29. During his most recent stint, White appeared in one game and recorded six points, one rebound, one assist, one steal and a block in 11 minutes. Overall, he’s seen action in four games D-League contests averaging 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 30.8 minutes.

Pierce scores 27, Celtics beat Thunder 103-84

The AP reports: Boston Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss scored it as the first, unofficial triple-double in Glen “Big Baby” Davis’ career: 19 points, 10 rebounds—and 10 stitches. The Celtics power forward left in the third quarter after being elbowed in the head and returned after getting stitched up to score 15 points in the final 10 minutes and lead Boston to a 103-84 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night… “Baby’s a bleeder,” said Paul Pierce, who scored 27 points… Eddie House scored 14 of his 16 in the second half—nine of them during an 11-1 run in the third quarter when the Celtics took the lead for good. Reserve Mikki Moore scored 12 with 11 boards and Rajon Rondo had 12 assists to help the Celtics win their sixth out of seven despite missing Garnett for the 15th time in 19 games… Russell Westbrook scored 23 points and Kevin Durant added 21 for the Thunder, which lost their third straight and fifth of six.

Thunder re-assign DJ White to D-League

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has re-assigned forward D.J. White to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.

White was previously assigned to the 66ers on March 18 before being recalled on March 23. During his first stint in Tulsa, he appeared in three games averaging 17.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 assist in 37.7 minutes. He is expected to be in uniform tonight when Tulsa hosts Bakersfield at 6:00 P.M.

NBA teams can assign up to two players who are rookies or in their second season to their D-League affiliate. Players can stay with the D-League team for as long as the team wishes, and be recalled back to the NBA at any time. However, a player can only be sent to the D-League a maximum of three times during the season.

Kevin Durant likes Oklahoma City

The Boston Globe (Marc J. Spears) reports: There were a lot of unknowns for Kevin Durant concerning what basketball and life would be like in Oklahoma. But in a short time, the budding superstar has come to a conclusion. “I love it,” said Durant in a telephone interview. “The weather is unpredictable. You don’t know when it’s going to snow or rain. But the people here are nice. Nice people. I didn’t know anything about it other than playing here in college [at the University of Texas]. Flat land. “But after coming here and seeing the city, I love Oklahoma. The fans have been with me every night. What more can you ask for?” What Thunder fans can ask for are more wins, as the former SuperSonics visit TD Banknorth Garden tonight with a 20-52 record. But with Durant, other talented young players, plenty of draft picks, and money to use in free agency, Durant believes the future is bright.

Bosh, Marion lead Raptors past Thunder

The AP reports: The Toronto Raptors put this one away early. Chris Bosh had 21 points and 13 rebounds, Shawn Marion added 20 points and 11 rebounds and the Raptors opened up a big lead in the first quarter before cruising to a 112-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. “Everybody was on the same page,” Marion said of Toronto’s 17-2 scoring surge. “We got stops when we needed to, everybody was stepping up and it just started clicking.” The Raptors, who led by as many as 25, avenged a 91-83 road loss to the 2-24 Thunder on Dec. 19. Bosh called it “a good win,” but said he wasn’t motivated by revenge.

NBA rule change on too many players on court

The NBA Board of Governors voted to approve a playing rules change in regards to “too many players on the court”, which will take effect beginning Friday, March 27.

Under the playing rules change, when a “too many players on the court” violation is called, a technical foul will be assessed against the offending team and the non-offending team will have the option of either accepting or nullifying the game action that occurred during the violation.

Option 1 — Accept Game Action

The non-offending team can opt to ACCEPT all play that occurred during the violation, including any points scored, with no adjustment of the game clock.

Option 2 — Nullify Game Action

The non-offending team can opt to NULLIFY all play that occurred during the violation, other than any acts of unsportsmanlike conduct or flagrant fouls or any points scored from free throws as a result of such actions.

Under this option, following the technical foul, the game clock would be reset to the time when the ball was put into play with too many players on the court and, depending on how the ball was originally put into play, play would resume in accordance with the following:

1) If the original play commenced with a throw-in, then the ball would be returned to the original throw-in spot and play commenced with a throw-in.

2) If the original play commenced with a missed free-throw attempt where the ball remained in play, then play would be commenced with a jump ball held at center court between any two players who were on the floor at the time play was suspended due to the violation.

3) If the original play commenced with a jump ball, then play would be commenced with a jump ball held at the original jump-ball spot between the same two players who participated in the original jump ball.

Lakers rest starters in 107-89 blowout of Thunder

The AP reports: To Kobe Bryant, a little bit of rest is way overrated. Getting ready for the playoffs is what the last stretch of the season is all about. Bryant scored 19 points before taking the fourth quarter off, and the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 107-89 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night… Lamar Odom scored 18 points before fouling out and Pau Gasol had 14 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists for Los Angeles. Kevin Durant scored 24 points to lead Oklahoma City, which had all five starters reach double figures but never cut the Lakers’ lead to less than 17 points in the second half… Jeff Green scored 12 points, Nenad Krstic added 11 and Thabo Sefolosha, Russell Westbrook and Nick Collison each had 10 for Oklahoma City.

Thunder recall D.J. White from D-League

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has recalled forward D.J. White from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.

White was originally assigned to Tulsa on March 18. He appeared in three games for the 66ers averaging 17.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 assist in 37.7 minutes.