NBA Playoffs 2011: OKC Thunder and Denver Nuggets Keys to Rest of Series

The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets capped a wild and exciting start to the 2011 NBA playoffs Sunday night, with OKC winning the high scoring series opener, 107-103. 

As they have all season, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook led the way for the Thunder.

They became the first duo in franchise history (dating back to the Seattle Supersonics days) to score 30 points in the same playoff game since Tom Chambers and Xavier McDaniel in 1988. 

Durant added a career playoff high 41 points, while Westbrook poured in 31, with several of his points coming in the final minutes. 

In a game in which both teams have several good defensive players, defense was absent from game one. 

Both teams attempted 77 shots from the floor, but the Nuggets shot quite poorly from three-point territory and were brutal from the foul line. 

If there’s one aspect of the game Denver has to improve in to win the series, it’s foul shooting. 

The Nuggets converted just 21 of their 33 free-throw attempts, a mere 63 percent. From three-point land, Denver was four-of-16, just 25 percent. 

If Denver can improve their shooting, they’ll be in much better shape, and with the multitude of scorers they have, it is likely this kind of shooting performance won’t happen again. 

While Denver started the game on the right foot offensively, Oklahoma City began the game a bit tentative and struggled to score early on.

Whether it was nerves of opening the playoffs at home in front of their raucous fans or the weight of the high expectations, it took a while for the Thunder to get rolling.

But as he has done all season, Kevin Durant lifted his team when several of his teammates were struggling to score.

Durant was amazing in game one, chipping in nine rebounds and two assists, to go along with his 41 points. 

However, the Thunder cannot count on Durant to score in the mid-to-high 30s every game, they need players such as James Harden to contribute offensively if they want to beat the Nuggets. 

Harden was getting good looks from the outside, but could never get a rhythm with a few made baskets. 

He shot one-of-five in the game in 26 minutes of play and scored five of the Thunder’s 26 total bench points. 12 of those came from backup point guard Eric Maynor, who was the only bright spot off the bench for OKC.

For the Thunder to win the series, they must defend better. Although Serge Ibaka had four terrific blocks, him and center Kendrick Perkins were ineffective defensively.

Too many times the Nuggets were able to get in the paint off the dribble and score at the basket.

When defending a team like Denver, who has many good shooters, you cannot get beat off the dribble at the perimeter and make your big men commit defensively, possibly racking up fouls.

OKC did not defend the perimeter well, and were very fortunate that Denver missed so many outside shots, because they got some pretty good looks throughout the game. 

The Thunder got tremendous games from Durant and Westbrook, who contributed timely scoring in a game where their teammates were struggling offensively. 

But the Thunder cannot rely on their star duo to carry them each night. The bench, as well as Serge Ibaka, who made just one of his eight shot attempts, needs to be more efficient offensively. 

Without Jeff Green, the Thunder don’t have a reliable third scoring option, and to advance past the Nuggets, they need to find one in game two on Wednesday night.

Denver will be pleased with their effort from game one, and if just a couple of their many missed shots from game one go through the basket in game two, they'll steal a game in OKC and take over the homecourt advantage in the series.