OKC Wins Exhibition Opener in Turkey

By | 2016-10-28T21:12:56-08:00 October 6th, 2013|News|Comments Off on OKC Wins Exhibition Opener in Turkey

Derek Fisher and the Oklahoma City Thunder kicked off the 2013 NBA preseason overseas in Turkey on Saturday by surviving a tough test by an inspired foe.

The Thunder weathered a hot first quarter from host Fenerbache to pull out a 95-82 win at Ulker Sports Arena. D-Fish came off the bench to play 19 minutes and scored eight points on 2-of-4 from the field whiled chipping in three assists and two steals.


D-Fish signs autographs for fans before the game at Ulker Sports Arena vs. Fenerbache (Getty Images).

Fenerbache came out hot, knocking down four straight threes to take an early lead and was in front 28-20 after one. Derek began the second for OKC and helped the team set a better tone on both ends of the floor.

Less than a minute into his stint, Fish drew a foul and sank both his free throws to cut the deficit down to seven. Fenerbache led by nine multiple times early in the quarter, but OKC finally started to stem the lead midway through the quarter.

After dishing to Nick Collison for a dunk early in the second frame, Derek got his second assist on a dish to Kevin Durant for a jumper that made it 37-30. That basket by Durant was the start of an 11-0 run for Oklahoma City. Fish found Durant again during the run, this time for a dunk to make it 37-35. Moments later, No. 6 tied the game at 37 after drawing another shooting foul and sinking two more free throws.


No. 6 helped set the tone defensively for Oklahoma City in the second quarter (Getty Images).

He left the game with the score even at 37 and OKC’s starters finished out the quarter outscoring Fenerbache 11-5 to take a six-point halftime lead.

“I think we did a good job of responding after the first quarter,” Durant told the Oklahoman. “We gave up 28 points but we did a great job the last three quarters on defense. That’s really what we tried to preach, is making sure our defense is locked in every possession. Guys off the bench did a really, really good job of setting the tone and we followed their lead from there.”

The Thunder led by as much as nine in the third, but by the time Fish checked back in with 5:45 left in the quarter it was a four-point game. Fenerbache took it down to two, but D-Fish followed up a Thabo Sefolosha dunk with a driving jumper to push OKC’s lead back to six and the Thunder rolled from there. They led by 10 after three and began the fourth on a 8-3 run to expand that lead to 15.

Derek capped that run with a pull up jumper for his second field goal of the night and checked out a few minutes later when Thunder coach Scott Brooks emptied the bench on the way to a 13-point win.

“We wanted to establish a few things on how we play,” Brooks said after the game. “We knew it was going to be a big test for us. We wanted to come in here and play good basketball and we did that. We also had a good time to get together and bond, so we accomplished a couple of important things on this trip.”

NEXT UP
The Thunder continue thier world tour this week in Manchester, England where they will take on the Philadelphia 76ers. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on NBA TV.

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