Thunder Blitzes Lakers on Big Nights from OK3 & Terrance Ferguson

The Oklahoma City Thunder went into the Staples Center and blitzed the Lakers on Wednesday night in Los Angeles. The OK3 of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony combined to score 65 points, Terrance Ferguson dropped a career-high 24 points of his own, and the Thunder walked out with a 133-96 victory. OKC outscored the Lakers 107-70 after the first quarter.

Full Highlights:

The win moves the Thunder to 21-17 on the season and snaps a two-game losing streak. Back in action tomorrow night in the same building — OKC will see the Clippers at 9:30 PM CT on TNT.

Now for some notes.

Numbers

60.2: The Thunder shot 60.2 percent from the floor and held the Lakers to just 41.3 percent shooting.

36: The Thunder had 36 assists tonight — well above the 20.7 APG season average. A lot of sharing.

9: Just nine free throw attempts for the Thunder. Seven of them went down.

14: The Thunder hit 14 three-pointers at a 46.7 percent clip.

16: The Lakers had 16 offensive rebounds and won the boards 45-44.

66: The Thunder had 66 points in the paint, compared to 44 for the Lakers.

The Second Quarter

The Thunder and Lakers were tied 26-26 after the first quarter and nothing remarkable was happening whatsoever. Oklahoma City suddenly came to life in the second, shooting 14/21 (67 percent) over the next 12 minutes of basketball en route to a 37-18 advantage in the frame.

The OK3 combined to shoot 10/13 in the first half — scoring 52 points — carrying the Thunder to a 63-44 lead at halftime. Carmelo Anthony was particularly impressive, scoring 21 points on 8/12 shooting in the first two quarters and helping the Thunder put itself up for good.

The OK3

When all was said and done, the OK3 of Westbrook, George and Anthony had themselves one of their best combined performances to date. Their final stat lines:

PG: 24 pts, 3 ast, 3 stl, 9/14 FG, +14

Melo: 21 pts, 6 reb, 8/14 FG, +21

Russ: 20 pts, 12 ast, 6 reb, 10/17 FG, 0/0 3P, +26

Best of all — Westbrook logged just 28 minutes, with Melo and George each logging 27. With Steven Adams (12 pts, 6 reb, 3 blk) getting just 26 minutes of his own, you couldn’t ask for a better start to a back-to-back. Should be fresh tomorrow against the Clippers.

Terrance Ferguson

Terrance Ferguson got the start in place of Andre Roberson  — and, uh, guys — he went off. The 19-year-old rookie scored a career-high 24 points on 9/12 shooting — hitting 6/9 from downtown. Each and every one of his 24 points was scored in the second half and his six three-pointers tied James Harden’s Thunder rookie record.

Outside of the three-point barrage, he caught the Holy Ghost in the fourth quarter and put on his own personal dunk contest. Check them out.

Very rude in transition:

Uncorking a windmill for good measure:

I don’t know how to explain what happened — it was an out-of-body experience. With Roberson out for at least the next two games and Alex Abrines sitting tonight due to a groin injury, the rookie is looking at a great opportunity. Perfect start.

Highlights

Russ puts two defenders in a blender en route to the lay-in:

Paul George knocks down the three. Heads over to give his parents some love afterward. (Their names are Paul and Paulette, by the way. Perhaps the greatest thing ever.)

Notes

Silly D. The Thunder were up 26 after the third quarter and all three members of the OK3 started the fourth on the bench. Inexplicably, Billy Donovan re-inserted Paul George at the 9:31 mark with the Thunder up 27. He wasn’t in long but it’s inexplicable given the team is back in action tomorrow night — not to mention the pure silliness of it altogether. All is well that ends well but let’s not do that again.

No Abrines. As mentioned above, Alex Abrines was a late scratch due to a right groin strain. It’s safe to say that Terrance Ferguson just made a power play on the minutes at backup shooting guard.

Big Kiwi. Steven Adams had a very workmanlike 12 points and 6 rebounds on 6/10 shooting. As always, he was busy doing a lot of little things that don’t show up in the box score.

The Bench. Daniel Hamilton and Patrick Patterson each had seven points, Dakari Johnson and Jerami Grant each pitched in six, Josh Huestis had four and even Kyle Singler got a bucket. Every member of the Thunder bench scored except for Raymond Felton and Nick Collison. Huestis saw the most action — logging 30 minutes.

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Terrance Ferguson discusses his breakout performance. Via FSOK.