--The little things are often the difference between wins and losses. Free-throw shooting falls in that category and the Thunder has made significant strides at the line. OKC went into Friday shooting 83.7 percent from the charity stripe this month.
Why the improvement? Though it may not necessarily be the answer, Thunder players compete in a free-throw contest at the end of practice. "Sometimes you kind of take free throws for granted and you might skip a day or two," Scott Brooks said. "But with this game, they're so competitive they'd rather we come in on an off day just to play that game."
--Rebounding has been another spot of noticeable improvement for Oklahoma City. The team averaged 40.8 rebounds in the first 20 games and 52.1 in the next 20. There's been a conscious effort to crash the boards under Scott Brooks. The return of C Nick Collison from injury and the addition of C Nenad Krstic have also played a role.
"When the team defense gets better it's easier to rebound, because a lot of times offensive rebounds are a function of getting broken down," Collison said. "Guys have to go help and then his guy is open for a rebound. If I had to point to one thing, I'd just say we're playing better team defense, making them shoot more jump shots over our hand."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We all came out tonight and tried to limit their chances and play tough on defense. We rebounded great as a team. And we closed things out for the second time in a row in the fourth quarter." -- C Chris Wilcox, on beating Detroit, the Thunder's second consecutive win.
