Westbrook trip-dubs again, Thunder beat the Raptors 108-104
Russell Westbrook. That’s it. That’s the recap.
Enes Kanter said it best:
“I mean what else can I say about it?” Kanter said. “I have no words. He has been unbelievable, he is helping his teammates, he is scoring the ball, and he is rebounding. He has just been really good.”
Westbrook: 30 points on 9-21 shooting, 11 rebounds, 17 assists and four steals. And nine turnovers, but let’s not let that get in the way of what really was another fantastic performance.
Particularly late, where Westbrook (mostly) made right choices, setting up Kanter in a side screen-and-roll, and Serge Ibaka for a big jumper. The Raptors closed the gap quickly to threaten the Thunder with what would’ve been a catastrophic collapse, but Westbrook engineered just enough.
Westbrook notched his seventh triple-double of the season, and his fifth in six games. It was just part of it, kind of ho-hum in a way because he didn’t have 50-15-20, which at this point, almost seems like what it will take to grab our attention. But most importantly, the Thunder won, which hasn’t exactly been a given even with Westbrook’s monster games.
The issue in those other games hasn’t been the crunchtime decision-making of Westbrook, which is the easy angle. It was more about the Thunder’s lackluster defense, something that was biting them again for most of this one. But behind an impressive tone set by Andre Roberson out of halftime, the Thunder cranked it up on the defensive end, quit turning the ball over, and let the Westbrook show commence and take them to where they needed to be.
Of Westbrook’s 17 assists, 13 went to either Kanter or Serge Ibaka. Five of Kanter’s nine baskets were set up by Westbrook, eight of Ibaka’s 10. Westbrook got the supplementary scoring he needed by creating it himself. And it helped they actually made their looks.
“Guys are making shots, man,” Westbrook said. “These guys put a lot of work in throughout the summer, throughout the year, and my job is to find a way to get them easy shots and they’re knocking them down.”
Ahead, the Thunder have an important stretch of home games, playing seven of their next eight in OKC. With Westbrook, the Thunder are 18-3 at home. Even with some tough teams coming in, this is their chance to put a stranglehold on the eighth-seed.
“It’s definitely a time for us to take advantage of home games,” Westbrook said. “Can’t relax, though. The tendency is when you get the chance to be home, you kind of relax. We can’t let ourselves relax, have to take advantage of this and come out and compete every night.”
Oh, and Kevin Durant should be back for some of them. Which will be nice.
NOTES:
- Steven Adams returned tonight, and came off the bench. In 16 minutes he had six points and six rebounds and two blocks.
- Enes Kanter may have noticed Adams returned. He had maybe his best game yet, 21 points on 9-14 with 12 rebounds and four assists. Kanter had 14 total points in his last two games. He had 13 in the first eight minutes tonight.
- On Kanter and Adams, Brooks said he wanted to integrate Adams back into the rotation. So it sounds like there’s a strong possibility he returns to the starting five. Here’s my guess as to what happens: When Durant returns, Kanter goes to the bench, because the starting five now has its offensive punch back. Brooks will probably stagger Durant and Westbrook’s minutes more, trying to keep Westbrook on the floor with Kanter as much as possible. And closing, it’ll just be whoever is matched up better.
- Brooks on Westbrook: “We’ve had a lot of success with him leading. He’s averaged seven or eight assists the last few years. He’s doing a good job of finding guys and guys are making shots for him. But as his game continues to develop, it slows down. He has a speed and has an aggression that we need for him to play with, but he is still able to see while he’s playing at the speed, more so now than in the last two or three years.”
- Again: Andre Roberson’s third quarter defense on DeMar DeRozan was sensational. DeRozan had 16 on 7-10 at half. He started the second half with zero points on 0-7 late into the fourth before he finally shook lose for a flurry of points.
- Something that was obvious tonight: Kanter is actually a pretty solid post defender. It’s the pick-and-roll where he struggles.
- Kyle Singler with a bloody lip just made him look even more like a 12-year-old that drank fruit punch at school.
- In the last two seasons, Westbrook has six triple-doubles that took three quarters. Four this season.
- If these new uniforms are supposed to represent city and state pride, why isn’t there an outline of Oklahoma anywhere on them?
- Also: Boo to the new uniforms. Yes, they were clean and sharp, but sleeves suck and they were way too conservative.
- One thing is for sure: With Adams or Kanter, the Thunder are going to have quite the center tandem.
- Dion Waiters didn’t have a good game statistically, but I actually liked the way he played. Resisted contested 2s, attacked the basket more, and looked to pass off the dribble a lot. And he competed on the boards and defensively. I can live with 2-8 from the floor when it happens like that.
- No Mitch McGary tonight. Could draw the short straw in the rotation with Adams back.
- When D.J. Augustin shoots, I think it’s going in.
- When Singler lost his shoe in the third quarter, I thought Terrence Ross was doing a cool thing by walking really slow to take the inbounds pass to let Singler get it back on. Then he threw it in real fast, sprinted to the 3-point line and drilled a shot. Cold man, cold.
- The Raptors shot only nine free throws tonight. Keep that in mind the next time you’re up in arms about officiating.
- Ibaka had only one assist, but it might’ve been his best pass ever, a bullet to Kanter for a dunk. After it, Ibaka pumped both fists. Never seen him so happy.
- It’s kind of adorable how badly Kanter wants to be buddies with Westbrook. When he grabbed him around the neck after that Westbrook 3, Russ was like, “wtf man we’re not that close get off me.” It made me feel awkward and sad.
- I seriously think the officials ignored calling an obvious clear path foul at the end of the first half because they’re sick of reviewing them. Because Westbrook was clearly grabbed, but they let it go, and he had his layup attempt blocked on the other end.
- Not getting to see Steve Novak in the alternate jersey is one of my greatest regrets in life.
Next up: Home against the Clippers on Wednesday
