Tonight at 8:00 p.m. Oklahoma City Thunder (1-0) forward Kevin Durant will continue being a one-man band offensively in the absence of Russell Westbrook, when the Thunder travel to Minnesota to face the Timberwolves (1-0) in Western Conference action. Live stream the game by clicking this link. Thunder fans can hear the game on WWLS 98.1 while T-Wolves fans can listen in on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
With Russell Westbrook sidelined while recovering from a second offseason knee surgery, and last year's sixth man Kevin Martin now on Minnesota, Durant knew the scoring load would fall on him.
For a three-time NBA scoring champion that was no problem. Durant hung 42 points on the Utah Jazz and carried Oklahoma City to a win in their opener. "I just tried to be aggressive and I think my teammates put me in great positions to be aggressive," Durant said. "I need to finish some of those 'and-1s' and make more shots."
While Kevin Love is not on the level of Durant just yet in the NBA hierarchy, the Wolves believe a healthy campaign out of him will allow the rest of the West to hear them howl.
"I think we can all agree he's already a star," Martin said. "He's hungry this year. He wants to get this playoff experience for the first time, and you know he played big for us tonight. You can't put it into words, but you know we were going to expect that out of him every night."
Point guard Ricky Rubio is back to 100 percent as well, and his electricity permeated an offense that scored 120 points against Orlando in the opener. Rubio had a double-double in the win with 13 points and 11 assists, along with three steals.
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