Nightly Grades 12.7.12: And the Thunder rolled
Each night, Eye on Basketball brings you what you need to know about the games of the NBA. From great performances to terrible clock management the report card evaluates and eviscerates the good, the bad, and the ugly from the night that was.
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 | Oklahoma City Thunder | The Thunder just blitzed the Lakers, who look totally overwhelmed. Maybe Steve Nash and Pau Gasol would have made a difference. Maybe not. Russell Westbrook's first-half dominance and Kevin Durant's second-half brilliance was just too much for the Lakers to run with. The Thunder are the best in the West by a fair margin. |
 | Philadelphia 76ers | The Sixers had a lot of opportunities to let this win walk out the door. They left Kevin Garnett open to end regulation on the pick and pop, a play that killed them in the playoffs approximately 1,700 times. But they stuck well in overtime, needed some luck on a Rondo slip but still had a big performance from Evan Turner. Good win for the Sixers. |
| Denver Nuggets | Denver needed a close win on the road badly after dropping so many this season. But instead they slammed the door on the Pacers in Indianapolis, with Andre Miller hitting shot after shot. They had a huge night from JaVale McGee (20 points, 9-9 from the field) and Corey Brewer (20 points) and seem to be stabilizing a bit. So they'll probably tank the rest of this road trip. |
| Joakim Noah, Josh Smith, David Lee, Kevin Love | These four big men all had massive nights Friday night. Noah lead the way with 30 points and 23 rebounds (but only toppled lowly Detroit), while Lee had 30 and 15 in a big win over Brooklyn. Smith helped Atlanta to yet another win with 23 and 15 and Kevin Love had a Kevin Love game: 36 points and 13 rebounds. Night of the big men in the NBA. |
 | Los Angeles Lakers | They'll play a few good possessions of defense, then go through scoring droughts. They'll get the ball moving on offense, and then get run over on defense. They couldn't put anything together against the Thunder and despite the fact that OKC only has two guys you must really worry about (you can live with Serge Ibaka and Kevin Martin getting loose), the Lakers were steamrolled by Durant and Westbrook. The dark times, they are continuing. |
 | Toronto Raptors | Toronto lead by 10 in the first quarter. They lost by 32. Do the math. |
| Houston Rockets | The Rockets were never in it against San Antonio and failed a big test of where they're at in the Western Conference ladder. Outclassed. |
GIFs of the night:
Doc Rivers reacts to a huge shot from Westbrook:
Andre Miller hit a huge shot to ice the game for Denver, and went WILD:
