NEW YORK, Jan. 3, 2012 – The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant and the Miami Heat’s LeBron James today were named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Sunday, Dec. 25, through Sunday, Jan. 1.

Durant helped the Thunder to a 5-0 start as well, averaging a Western Conference-best 27.4 points (second overall), while shooting .547 from the field and .500 from beyond the arc. Durant opened the 2011-12 campaign with four 30-plus-point performances. He recorded a double-double – 30 points and 11 rebounds – in a 104-102 win over the Mavericks Dec. 29.

James guided the Heat to a 5-0 record to start the season, including an opening-night victory over the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch of the 2011 Finals. James led the league in scoring (29.6 ppg), paced the conference in steals (2.40 spg), and averaged a team high in assists (6.6 apg). James scored 34 or more points on three occasions, including 37 in Miami’s 105-94 win at Dallas Dec. 25.

Here is a recap of the week for Durant and James:

Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
*Dec. 25 vs. Orlando: Tallied 30 points, six assists and five rebounds in a 97-89 win over the Magic.

*Dec. 28 @ Memphis: Posted 32 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in a 98-95 road victory over the Grizzlies.

*Dec. 29 vs. Dallas: Recorded a 30-point, 11-rebound double-double in a 104-102 home win over the Mavericks.

LeBron James, Miami Heat
*Dec. 25 @ Dallas: Recorded 37 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in a 105-94 win at Dallas.

*Dec. 28 @ Charlotte: Tallied 35 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals in a 96-95 road victory.

*Dec. 30 @ Minnesota: Recorded a 34-point, 10-assist double-double, and added eight assists and four steals in a 103-101 win at Minnesota.

Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Houston’s Kyle Lowry, Indiana’s Roy Hibbert, New York’s Carmelo Anthony, Minnesota’s Kevin Love, Orlando’s Dwight Howard and Phoenix’s Steve Nash.

KD and the Thunder had an easy time with the struggling Phoenix Suns on Saturday night. KD only played 26 minutes and had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, yet the Thunder easily defeated the Suns 107-97.

The Thunder now head to Dallas to take on the Mavericks on Monday.

KD had his 4th straight 30 point game to start the 2012 season, helping the Thunder defeat the defending NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks. KD’s performance was topped off by a great game winning 3 pointer. The three pointer came following Vince Carter hitting a three pointer in the final seconds that looked like it would end up being the game winner for the Mavs. That is, until KD got one last shot.

The Thunder have started the season with 4 straight victories. They’ll take on the Pheonix Suns in OKC on Saturday night.

After having a dismal shooting first half, KD came back in the second half to lead the Thunder to a 98-95 victory over the Grizzlies on Wednesday night. KD finished with 32 points (on 10 of 17 shooting), 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

The Thunder now head home to OKC to take on the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday. You can catch the game on TNT at 7PM OKC time.

KD scored 30 points on 11 of 19 shooting in a 97-89 Christmas Day victory over Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. KD also had 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.

The Thunder now head to Minnesota to play Kevin love and the Timberwolves on Monday.

KD scored 21 points on 5 shots (13/14 from the line) in a 106-92 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the Thunder’s preseason opener. The Mavs played without Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd. The Thunder play the Mavericks in their final preseason game on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.

Feels good to be back in the Thunder uniform with all my teammates!

Watch video from Media Day HERE

Thunder up!

Fans: Be sure to check out Kevin on Twitter and Facebook.

Well after the Thunder players and the families they were shopping with left Target on Tuesday, balloons from the team’s Holiday Assist event still floated around on the backs of shopping carts to go home with other guests.

But that is just a drop in the bucket of the long-lasting effects the team shopping spree will have on families throughout the community.

Ten families, all part of Sunbeam Family Services’ Grandparents Raising Grandchildren program, each had $1,000 to spend at the northwest Oklahoma City store to make their holiday wishes come true. And they each had some help spending it.

While Thunder Girls shopped with the grandparents, Thunder players took the children on a shopping spree like they never imagined.

This is the fourth year the Thunder has put on this event, and it has become a favorite holiday tradition for staff and players alike.

CONTINUE READING

Read all about the Thunder’s first day of training cap at NewsOK.com

OKLAHOMA CITY, December 6, 2011 – The Thunder’s entire 66-game 2011-12 schedule was released earlier today by the NBA. Including the Thunder’s previously announced Christmas Night game versus Orlando followed by the Thunder’s road contest on December 26 at Minnesota, the Thunder with play 18 sets of back-to-backs in addition to one back-to-back-to-back in early January.

In a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals, Oklahoma City will take-on the Dallas Mavericks four times during the 2011-12 season with two of those meetings occurring in the first eight days of the regular season.

Once again, the Thunder will play a home affair on New Year’s Eve as the Phoenix Suns travel to the Chesapeake Energy Arena on the final day of 2011. The Thunder has played on New Year’s Eve every season since moving to Oklahoma City as a part of the city’s Opening Night celebration.

The 2011-12 regular season schedule is highlighted by 24 nationally televised appearances for the Thunder. Oklahoma City will play two games on ABC this season with the first coming on April 1st when the Thunder hosts Chicago and later when the Oklahoma City travels to play the L.A. Lakers (Apr. 22) in the final week of the regular season.

The Thunder will make nine appearances on this season ESPN commencing with the Christmas Night opener (Dec. 25) and followed by a pair of road match-ups against the Dallas Mavericks (Feb. 1) and the Utah Jazz (Feb. 10). The Thunder will later host the Denver Nuggets (Feb. 19), Boston Celtics (Feb. 22), San Antonio Spurs (Mar. 16), Portland Trail Blazers (Mar. 18) and the Miami Heat (Mar. 25) on ESPN. The Thunder will round-out their ESPN telecasts on the road with a meeting against the Heat in Miami (Apr. 4).

TNT Sports will feature six Thunder games during the 2011-12 season including the Thunder’s first-week match-up versus the Dallas Mavericks (Dec. 29). The Thunder will later appear on TNT for games against Boston (Jan. 16) and Sacramento (Feb. 9) before hosting the L.A. Lakers on February 23. TNT will lastly televise the Thunder’s road contests against Orlando (Mar. 1) and the L.A. Lakers (Mar. 29).

The Thunder is also scheduled to appear on NBATV seven times this season.

Thunder fans will be treated to a pair of five-game home stands during the 2011-12 season. The first of which will occur in late February when Oklahoma City plays host to Golden State (Feb. 17), before competing in two sets of home-and-home back-to-backs vs. Denver (Feb. 19) and New Orleans (Feb. 20) followed by games vs. Boston (Feb. 22) and the L.A. Lakers (Feb. 23) just prior to the NBA All-Star break. The second five-game home stand falls shortly thereafter in early March when Dallas (Mar. 5), Phoenix (Feb. 7), Cleveland (Mar. 9), Charlotte (Mar. 10) and Houston (Mar. 13) all make stops in Oklahoma City.

The Thunder continues its tradition of family friendly scheduling this season with 17 home games that will be played on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The 2011-12 regular season will conclude with a home-and-home back-to-back on April 24 and 25 with games played versus Sacramento and Denver, respectively.

Single game tickets for the first half of the regular season go on sale Monday, December 12 at 10 am online at thunder.nba.com. Tickets for the Thunder’s preseason home game vs. Dallas will also be on sale at that time.

With very few national TV exceptions, FOX Sports Oklahoma will carry the Thunder’s regular season games. A full broadcast schedule will be released later this week. The Thunder’s TV schedule begins Tuesday, Dec. 20 with the preseason game vs. the Mavericks.

Play-by-play announcer Brian Davis, analyst Grant Long and sideline/web reporter Kelly Crull return as the Thunder broadcast team on FSO. Radio play-by play announcer Matt Pinto will bring every Thunder game to listeners on WWLS (98.1FM) and the Thunder Radio Network.