Thunder pummel the Nuggets, 124-102
Feel a little better?
Three things to take from this slaughter:
1. The Thunder are real, real good when they make 15-31 from 3. They should shoot like that all the time. It makes them tough to beat.
2. Russell Westbrook, perpetually ridiculous. This guy put up his 17th triple-double of the season, tying Magic Johnson’s 1988-89 season for the most in the last 30 years. And Westbrook did it tonight in 27 total minutes (he had it done in 22), finishing with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists.
Now, there were a few points, especially in the second quarter, where it felt like Westbrook overpassing in desperate search of an assist. He had five turnovers in the second quarter alone, but if that’s a gripe, I’d also note that the Thunder offense tends to roll the more Westbrook plays as a creator. So overpassing isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that those passes need to be connected and not forced.
3. The Thunder have sealed the third seed. They go on to Portland to play the Blazers tomorrow night, and it seems like it might be likely that OKC rests a few players. Seeing as the Grizzlies are probably the easiest road through to the second round, there could be a little gamesmanship to be done there.
Other than that, what else is there? The Nuggets look ready for summer, and the Thunder clearly had a little taste to wash away from Sunday’s game in Houston. There’s no question that any time they shoot the ball like that, they’re lethal, but the way they played was complete, and clinical. The ball moved, the defense was mostly solid, and Westbrook and Durant were the unstoppable forces they always are.
Next.
NOTES:
- Definitely some nice moments with D.J. Augustin postgame. Lots of Thunderers huddled around him giving him hugs and handshakes. At the end, Durant was pointing to the Denver side saying something like, you go that way, we go this way (motioning towards OKC’s locker room). It was aww.
- Stop Playing Singler. #MakeTheThunderGreatAgain
- There was like a two-week stretch where Kyle Singler was like a decent role player. Then he hurt his back and he’s come back worse than ever.
- Anthony Morrow’s defense is atrocious, and he’s absolutely a liability on that end, but his shooting not only produces three points at a time, but he also creates extra space for either Westbrook or Durant. And with the staggered lineup in effect, that means Morrow will have one of them on the floor with him during his brief run, making him a weapon for them to look forward, as well as clearing more room for them to operate in.
- Durant’s 20-point scoring streak is low key one of the craziest things about this season. He’s reached 20 in every game he’s played in this season, the one exception being against the Wizards where he only played a half because of injury.
- That play in the first quarter where Dion Waiters dropped off an easy dunk to Serge Ibaka on the break, seemed like unselfish stuff. But really, it was probably just the right basketball play, seeing as any Waiters layup isn’t as high percentage as someone else taking it.
- Waiters had a good game: 18 points on 6-9 shooting, five assists and four steals. Soak it up.
- Ibaka was very solid tonight: 18 on 7-11, five rebounds in 29 minutes. He plays like that, and the Thunder get a lot better.
- You’ve probably seen the disturbing plus/minus fourth quarter stat for OKC by now. It’s certainly alarming. But a couple things about that: 1) Look at tonight’s margin. The Nuggets won the fourth 25-17. That’s a +8. There have been a lot of games this season where the bench has let a 25-point game slip to 15. Let’s just say the garbage time group has been outscored by five in 10 different games this season. That’s a -50. So while that stat is definitely eye-opening, I do think it’s a bit misleading. 2) The Thunder have held the second-most leads through three quarters in the league this season (Spurs are the most). More than the Warriors. You can look at that as the Thunder don’t close games — which is true — while also having the common sense to know that while 13 blown fourth quarter leads catches attention, it also means the Thunder have had a bunch of chances to blow them. And 3) when the Thunder lead by five or more after three, they’re now 40-5; up six or more, 35-3; up 10 or more 29-1. So this narrative that the Thunder choke in the fourth isn’t exactly true.
- Enes Kanter in 21 minutes: 18 points and 11 rebounds. Guy is a machine.
Next up: At the Blazers on Wednesday
