Dec. 26, 2011 – It wasn’t easy but the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves for their second win of the season. Most of the credit has to go to Kendrick Perkins, who made sure the Timberwolves couldn’t tie the game up at the end, giving the Thunder a 104-100 victory.
With five seconds left in the game and Oklahoma City leading by two, Michael Beasley, the Timberwolves leading scorer, attempted a shot which fell short. Perkins was in perfect position to fight for, and come down with, the rebound. Beasley fouled Perkins, sending the big man to the line. Perkins hit both free throws and the game was over.
It was par for course for the night as the Thunder hit 29 of 31 from the charity stripe in the game. Oklahoma City led the league in free-throw percentage in 2010-11 and they picked right back up again in 2011-12.
"We've always been a good shooting team at the line and we like to get there," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "We have to attack and our jump shooting is much improved but we still have to get to the basket. We still have to attack and create opportunities around the rim. Our guys stepped up."
Kevin Durant scored 33 points to lead the Thunder while Russell Westbrook added 28 points, six assists and six rebounds, and James Harden scored 16 points. It was another nice team effort for Oklahoma City.
"We have a lot of guys that can get a basket: Russell, of course, James is really stepping it up scoring the ball," Durant said. "I think we feed off each other really well; it's not like guys are being selfish playing one-on-one basketball."
Michael Beasley scored 24 points to lead Minnesota while Kevin Love had 22 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams scored 13 for the Timberwolves.
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