Nightly Grades 3.7.13: J.R. Smith cooks, and cools
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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 | Serge Ibaka | Ibaka played monster in the middle for the Thunder against the Knicks. He had 12 points, nine rebounds and five blocks and spent most of the game playing the lone big for OKC against Tyson Chandler and Amar'e Stoudemire. He was excellent defending the rim, but equally as good in the pick-and-roll, as displayed by him blowing one up with a little over a minute left, giving the Thunder a big stop. |
| Russell Westbrook dunking on fast breaks | Sometimes he misses, but it's at least always in spectacular fashion. |
| Ty Lawson | The entire Nuggets roster was pretty tremendous offensively Thursday night, but Lawson was the standout. On 9-of-15 shooting he scored 21 points, had 11 assists to no turnovers and added six rebounds. And outplayed Chris Paul in the fourth quarter. |
 | Kevin Durant | Not a spectacular MSG performance for Durant, but certainly good. He had 34 on 9-of-20 shooting, adding eight rebounds and six assists. He had seven turnovers, which wasn't very good, but made up for it by scoring OKC's final six points to lead the Thunder to a good road win. |
 | J.R. Smith | There really hasn't ever been more of a "C" performance this season than the one Smith put up against the Thunder. For three quarters, he was spectacular, firing contested step-backs from everywhere. He started the game 12-for-20 and was on his way leading the Carmelo Anthony-less Knicks to a win over the Thunder. But the Smith well ran dry in the fourth as he finished 2 of 9 in the final 12 minutes and missed a head-scratching game-winner as time expired. Life with Earl, as they say. |
 | Los Angeles Clippers | Winning in Denver has proven difficult for any team this season, but the Clippers have been without any kind of legitimate win for a while. With a chance to make some kind of statement on the road, they flopped, especially in the fourth quarter. |
 | Russell Westbrook finger-rolling on fast breaks | He airballed a layup. if you're going to miss, Russ, do it in style. |
