Oklahoma City Thunder 119 — Dallas Mavs 108
Granted, these Dallas Mavs are a dead team walking, but putting that aside — for the second consecutive road game the Thunder played smart, heady basketball in winning wire to wire to take a commanding 3-1 stranglehold of this first round Western Conference series.
Beautiful basketball two games in a row which makes you hope the Thunder could possibly have their best ball of the season still in front of them.
So many positives in this game for Oklahoma City. Russell Westbrook was superb with 25 points and 15 assists. Enes Kanter was equally sublime notching his career playoff best with 28 points on a 12-13 night from the field. These two share my No. 1 Star of the Game honors.
But other Thunder players were excellent as well. Serge Ibaka scored 16 points on a 7-11 night, plus he played with some snarl which has been missing at times this season. Keep the snarl coming, Serge.
Much to the dismay of the Daily Thunder zombies, Dion Waiters was excellent again scoring 12 efficient points and doing multiple other things which make the Thunder a better team.
Steven Adams had some nice moments scoring 14 points. Andre Roberson did some nice things as well none of which included shooting a basketball, but still his metrics….sigh. But he really did do some good things. Same with the always heady Nick Collison.
Here’s my stat of the night for the second straight game…Ibaka, Kanter, and Waiters went 23-29 and combined for 56 points. You get that from your third, fourth, and fifth options and good things could be on the horizon for this Thunder team.
Durant was okay going 7-20 with 19 points, but got ejected at the end for slapping Justin Anderson. I’ll be stunned if he gets suspended for this, but not a smart play. But otherwise—the Thunder were a very heady bunch tonight.
Twenty-six assists to nine turnovers. Westbrook and Durant with only three between them.
But the night basically belonged to Westbrook and Kanter, especially Enes Kanter. The two man game evolving between these two pretty much makes it mandatory Kanter needs to be on the floor in the fourth period when Westbrook sometimes struggles. It gives Westbrook so many more choices . It gives him a pick and roll partner who makes his free throws. Again, there was no point in matching Portland’s offer to Kanter if you’re not going to use him. Billy Donovan has used him these past two games.
To me–the key to this team is to keep Ibaka, Kanter, and Waiters involved. These last two games the Thunder have played the right way. Put the hero ball on the back burner. Not to be too tough on Durant for his post Game 2 comments, but it’s more than just shots falling, it’s getting your teammates involved. Getting them into the flow of the offense. Allowing them to do more than watch Durant and Westbrook play two on five basketball.
We know for a fact OKC cannot win the title playing hero ball. WE KNOW THIS. THIS IS NOT SUBJECTIVE THINKING. So since we all know this, there’s no reason whatsoever for the two stars to fall back into that mode as San Antonio awaits on the horizon.
Two beautiful games in a row. Build on this in Game 5 on Monday in Oklahoma City. Keep moving the basketball. Touch, touch, touch…finish.
Teams that win championships do two things, they defend and they move the ball. They win. They advance. They give themselves a chance.
I can’t tell you how much more I enjoy blogging about these guys after they play heady ball instead of playing dumb basketball.
Monday night in OKC gives the Thunder the opportunity to closeout a series and for the city to celebrate after a tough winter of multiple tragedies related to the city and the team jointly.
Hope to see the smart Thunder on Monday night.
Passing is fun. Keep passing the damn ball.