|
 Despite relentless practice and preparation, things weren't going
well for the veteran.
One conversation was all it took for Foye to turn things turn
around.
Foye scored a season-high 24 points, guard Ty Lawson added 16 points
and 14 assists, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City
Thunder 101-88 Thursday night.
Guard Evan Fournier came off the bench to score 19 for the Nuggets,
who won their fourth in a row following an eight-game losing streak.
Foye is playing a big part in Denver's resurgence. He is averaging
18.5 points during the winning streak, and Thursday set a season
scoring high for the second straight game.
All it took was a little pep talk from coach Brian Shaw.
"Coach sat me down and said, 'You've been in this league eight
years. You've done this over and over,'" Foye said. "'Last year you
made 178 3s. This is what you have done. I need you to be
aggressive. I need you to shoot more.' They said they needed me to
be a vocal leader."
He was a leader on offense, hitting six of the team's 14 3-pointers.
"Randy's in a nice groove," Shaw said. "He has a nice rhythm. We're
in a good place right now."
Forward Kevin Durant scored a game-high 30 points for the Thunder,
who dropped their second consecutive game. Durant scored half of his
points from the free-throw line, where he was 15-for-16.
Oklahoma City (27-9) has been a .500 team since losing guard Russell
Westbrook to a right knee injury in late December. The Thunder
stumbled into Denver following an 11-point loss to the Jazz in Utah
on Tuesday.
On Thursday, they again felt the absence of their All-Star guard.
Coach Scott Brooks couldn't find a complementary scorer for Durant,
who carried the load but couldn't do it all.
"Today they were sitting there and watching me," Durant said of his
teammates. "I take full responsibility. As the leader, you take the
good and the bad."
Durant had half the team's points late well into the third quarter,
and no other Thunder player reached double figures until guard
Reggie Jackson hit two free throws with 2:56 left in the third. By
then, Denver was in control of the game.
Jackson finished with 13, and Thunder guard Derek Fisher had 12, all
in the fourth quarter.
"We took a lot of tough shots and we missed a lot of shots," Brooks
said. "Third quarter we took too many bad shots. It's tough to make
those shots consistently."
[to top of second column] |
With the Nuggets leading 72-61, Foye hit two 3-pointers and
Fournier sank another as the lead grew to 81-61. Center Timofey
Mozgov made a jumper to give Denver an 89-66 lead heading into
the fourth.
The lead grew to 25, and Durant, who came out of the game late
in the third, never got off the bench in the last 12 minutes,
although he did get hit with a technical foul with 4:41 left.
"They made 14 out of 31 3s tonight," Durant said. "A team that
goes 14-for-31 from the trey is hard to beat."
Brooks stuck with his bench for the entire fourth quarter, and
the reserves made it respectable but never seriously threatened
Denver.
Foye was happy to see Durant keep his warmups on.
"When (Brooks) took him out, I said to myself, 'Don't let that
guy get back in,'" Foye said. "He's dangerous."
The Nuggets (18-17) led for most of the first half thanks to
contributions from bit players. Fournier came off the bench to
score 11 points, and forward Quincy Miller, in his first career
start, had five in 10 first-half minutes while playing
serviceable defense on Durant. Miller finished with nine points.
Durant scored 24 of the Thunder's 51 first-half points.
"We talked about Kevin Durant getting his. He had 24 at
halftime, but we didn't want anybody else to get into a rhythm,"
Shaw said. "We did a pretty good job of that for the most part."
NOTES: Nuggets F Wilson Chandler did not play because of a left
groin strain suffered in Tuesday night's win over the Boston
Celtics. Chandler, who missed the first part of last season
after left hip surgery, is day-to-day. ... Oklahoma City F Serge
Ibaka was back in the lineup after missing Tuesday night's game
against Utah with flu-like symptoms. He finished with eight
points and 10 rebounds. ... Nuggets G Andre Miller continues to
be away from the team for what the Nuggets said were personal
reasons. He has not been at a game since Jan. 1. ... The Nuggets
and the Thunder both routed the Celtics in the past week.
Oklahoma City beat Boston by 23 on Sunday, and Denver followed
with a 31-point win on Tuesday. ... Nuggets G Nate Robinson
played despite having a sprained right ankle. He scored six
points in 23 minutes.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
