Week in Review: One true point guard

On the day after America’s special day for giving thanks, the Thunder hosted the Detroit Pistons and their starting point guard whose thankless departure from the Thunder last year may have been the driving force behind a chorus of boos every time he touched the ball.

Naturally, then, a lot of eyes were watching the Reggie Jackson-Russell Westbrook matchup. While Westbrook got the victory, neither player played well. Jackson finished with 15 points and 4 assists on 4-16 shooting, and Westbrook fouled out in 29 minutes after scoring just 14 points on 5-14 shooting to go along with only 4 assists. One stat, though, stood out to me: 11 turnovers for Westbrook.

Westbook has always had a proclivity for turning the ball over, but his 11 turnovers against the Pistons were a career high. Unfortunately, however, this is not an aberration, but indicative of a recurring issue. This year, Westbrook is averaging 5.2 turnovers per game, which is the worst in the league (James Harden is second at 4.8), and a mark that would be the worst of his career by far. The advanced stats also show that Westbrook is turning the ball over more than ever this year. He’s averaging 7.5 turnovers per 100 possessions, and 5.5 per 36 minutes, also career-worsts.

Now, before you throw the book at Westbrook, he is a point guard who has the ball in his hand a lot (he leads the league in usage). And, more importantly, he’s doing more point-guardy type things like dishing out assists. In fact, he is second in the league in assists, averaging just a fraction under 10 per game (9.9). Westbrook also leads all point guards in assist-to-pass ratio (17.8), which shows that he isn’t just passing the ball, but that he’s doing a great job of making passes that set guys up for baskets. A big part of this is his improvements passing the ball on the drive. For example, not only does Westbrook drive to the hoop a ton (he’s 5th in the league in drives per game), but he passes out of the drive at a high rate (34% of the time, versus just 24% of the time last year).

Westbrook has already approached scoring with a bullish mentality. With his assist numbers up across the board, it appears Westbrook is ratcheting up his intensity on assists, as well. Sure that’s leading to a few more turnovers, but it’s beginning to look more and more like Westbrook is one of those so-called “true” point guards, except, you know, he can also score pretty well, too. So, let’s chalk up the Detroit game as a bad night for Westbrook and get excited that he’s in the mix as one of the best distributors in the league.

THE GAMES

• Win vs. the Brooklyn Nets, 110-99 on November 25
• Win vs. the Detroit Pistons, 103-87 on November 27
• Loss at the Atlanta Hawks, 100-106 on November 30

THE BEST PLAYER

Kevin Durant. There was simply no way I could deny “best player” honors to your reigning Western Conference Player of the Week. In the last three games, Durant averaged 30 points, 5 assists, and 8 rebounds on 52/52/95. But it wasn’t just offense. Durant averaged 3.3 blocks per game, and forced his man to shoot 6% worse than his average.

While Durant gets a ton of credit for being one of the best offensive players in the game, his defense has improved every year, and he continues to learn how to use his length to harass his man. It’s scary to think that Durant is still finding ways to expand and improve his game. Scary if you’re one of the 29 teams not named the Thunder, that is.

THE WORST PLAYER

DJ Augustin. Truth be told, no one player had an awful week. With Singler effectively eliminated from the rotation as of late, the default target for criticism has become Augustin. The biggest issues for Augustin are turnovers (though he avoided turning the ball over this week) and defense (his man shoots 13% better when he’s defending), but a lot of it rests on the fact that he’s being charged with running the second unit, and the second unit has continued to struggle. In the last 3 games, the all-bench lineup of Augustin-Anthony Morrow-Dion Waiters-Nick Collison-Enes Kanter posted an offensive rating of 71, which is flat abysmal. Coupled with a defensive rating of 110, the second unit did little good this week.

THE BEST PERFORMANCE

Kevin Durant against the Brooklyn Nets. In 37 beautiful minutes of basketball, Durant poured in 30 points while shooting 61% from the field and 64% from three. He also grabbed 6 rebounds, dished out 5 assists, and swatted 3 shots. Pretty much a complete game.

Also, one of my favorite things in all the world is the Durant dagger three-pointer, which he has been unleashing with regularity since his return.

THE WORST PERFORMANCE

Dion Waiters against the Atlanta Hawks. Not only did Waiters have the gumption to wear white shoes with the road blues, but he also had the gall to miss all 7 of his shots. But let’s not kid ourselves, while this was a poor offensive performance for Waiters, one positive we’ve seen so far this year is Waiters staying engaged even when its not his night offensively. While he didn’t score, his defense was solid (his man shot very poorly, and he had 2 steals), he rebounded the ball (6 rebounds), and he passed the ball well (3 assists).

So yeah, this wasn’t Waiters’s finest moment, good enough for the dubious “worst player” award, but Waiters didn’t allow a bad offensive night to turn into a bad night overall. I call that progress!

THE BEST PLAY

Kevin Durant’s backdoor pass leads to a Russell Westbrook slam against the Brooklyn Nets. While the game against the Brooklyn Nets was close until the fourth quarter, OKC gave the highlight makers plenty of content. If you watch the highlights, the Thunder hosted a little dunk party against the Nets, which included a sweet posterizing dunk by Durant over Brook Lopez. That being said, that dunk was a close second to my choice for best play of the week: this sweeter backdoor dish from Durant leading to a Westbrook power jam.

What I really liked about it was the action that set up the backdoor cut. With Westbrook on the wing, Durant has the ball and curls up top, getting a Steven Adams rub screen along the way. Adams rolls, and that pick and roll action diverted the attention of the defense long enough for Westbrook to sneak along the baseline. The Thunder ran virtually the same play multiple times during the week, and it’s a really good showcase of Westbrook’s off-ball smarts and Durant’s passing ability. The Thunder have always run a ton of Durant backdoor cuts, but I’m loving the idea of Durant being the ballhandler (and Westbrook the cut man) due to the attention Durant draws, especially in the pick and roll.

THE WORST PLAY

Russell Westbrook goes up to nowhere against the Atlanta Hawks. Down 2, with time running out, Westbrook steps in to his 20th (an approximation) pull-up jumper. This time, though, the Hawks’ defense was ready and as Westbrook rises, he realizes he has no shot, and then realizes he has no pass. Not able to touch the ball (otherwise it would be a travel), Westbrook watches helplessly as Thabo Sefolosha recovers the loose ball, and the Hawks go on to seal the game at the free-throw line. Winning streak over.

WEEK IN PREVIEW

• At the Miami Heat on December 3 at 6:00 pm (TNT).  The Heat are off to a good start this year led by Hassan Whiteside and Chris Bosh. Bosh is a solid defender, and Whiteside is a beast, which will make it difficult for the Thunder to attack the paint.

• Vs. the Sacramento Kings on December 6 at 6:00 pm (FSOK). Demarcus Cousins is good. The Kings, however, are not.