Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Denver Nuggets: Breaking Down the Game

Tonight, we got to see a great divisional matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets.

This was the second straight game on the road for the Thunder, but many felt they had a good chance to win, given the recent turmoil in the Nuggets franchise concerning the swirling trade rumors around Carmelo Anthony.

However, it has been some time since Oklahoma City had won a game in Denver, so it was certain that this would be a hard fought win for either team.

The game began with some great play from Russell Westbrook of the Thunder and Nene of the Nuggets. Westbrook's passing skills were on display with four assists within the first six minutes. During that same time frame, Nene dropped a quick six points off of some tough play on the offensive glass.

However, after those first six minutes, Westbrook's play dropped off quite a bit when he had three straight turnovers. From my perspective, it seemed like after he made those first few great passes he felt he could zip any ball to a teammate and it would get there cleanly.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and the Nuggets began to go on an eleven point run and open up a big lead.

This was where Scottie Brooks made a great move and subbed out Westbrook to get him calmed down. Eric Maynor then came in and helped orchestrate a quick turnaround by throwing out four assists and four points before Westbrook came back in mid way through the second quarter.

From there, the game was very evenly matched and the teams took a 55-55 tie into the locker room at halftime.

In the second half, it felt like the Thunder were on the verge of taking the game over, but Carmelo Anthony kept the Nuggets in the game with a great shooting performance. During the third quarter alone, he put up 18 points and allowed the Nuggets to stay close.

When he finally came out for a rest at the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter, I thought the Thunder might be able to put some space in between the teams, but no one could really get going offensively.

In fact, Kevin Durant didn't even have a field goal in the fourth quarter (although he did get four free throws).

In the end, it came down to one superstar stepping up and the other shrinking away. Carmelo played like the offensive force he is, while Durant missed almost every shot he took in the second half.

Even though they lost, I really liked how the majority of the roster came back after losing in Los Angeles, I was particularly impressed with the play of Jeff Green and James Harden. Both were absolutely terrible from behind the arc in LA so they both came out and attacked the rim instead of settling for contested jumpers.

This was important because they both seemed so out of it offensively against the Lakers, so it was a great to get them both back into the flow of things. Green finished with a respectable 11 points and five boards, while Harden had four points and six boards.

If you've read any of my Thunder analysis, you know that I love Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison. Neither disappointed me tonight by coming in for Nenad Kristic and keeping Nene from dominating the game after his great first six minutes.

Ibaka was on fire early on, making his first six shots en route to scoring 16 points and grabbing nine rebounds; Collison also got nine boards and contributed six points.

At this point, it amazes me that Nenad even gets playing time because he is a huge liability of defense and Ibaka is quickly becoming a better scorer than he is.

As I said earlier, Eric Maynor's early entrance helped to settle down Westbrook when he was on the verge of unraveling. Maynor's solid play was the key to saving the game in the first half and giving Westbrook a chance to come back and be his usual dominant self, with 28 points and 11 assists.

Thabo Sefolosha also had a huge impact with eight big rebounds, which was a big reason the Thunder won the battle on the glass. When you have a wing player coming in and grabbing that many rebounds you're going to have a good chance at controlling the glass.

However, it wasn't all roses for the team. Durant played terribly in the second half, going 1-of-8 from the field. With that kind of play from your superstar, it's hard to win a game. With his offensive capability, he needs to be the closer in the clutch, especially when his teammates posted such a good effort.

I have to give credit to Carmelo Anthony tonight. He played out of his mind offensively in the second half and was the biggest reason they got the "W."

I envy the team that gets his services when the Nuggets trade him because his offensive game is almost impeccable. He keeps it simple and is able to seemingly dominate at will.

Here's hoping we get to see similar divisional battles throughout the rest of the season because games like these will help the Thunder greatly come playoff time.