Since the putrid road loss to the Kings on Thanksgiving Eve, two constants have played themselves over five straight games for the Thunder. Namely, Russell Westbrook has triple doubled while the Thunder won their basketball game.
Same basic formula was in place on Sunday evening inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena as Westbrook chased the ghosts of Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, and Michael Jordan while his teammates chipped in enough for the Thunder to get their fifth straight win to improve to 13-8, while staying close enough to Houston for the dual narratives of the two teams with the top two MVP canidates battling for the fourth seed in the West as well as an MVP trophy. Not a bad turnaround for Houston and Oklahoma City as oil is back trending in the low 50’s while their star millennials are taking all the shine from the Durant-Curry Show so far this NBA season. Go West Texas Crude. Go Thunder!
Throw in fellow MVP canidate Anthony Davis and it was a compelling night of basketball even though for the second straight season the Pelicans are one of the league’s bigger disappointments twenty-one games in. Davis had 37 points and 15 rebounds. Another bonus was OU’s NPOTY Buddy Hield was in town as well and probably had his best games as a professional with 16 points.
But this night belonged to Russell Westbrook, his Thunder, and on this night the ghost of Michael Jordan. Not that long ago, Jordan made Westbrook’s introduction speech into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Tonight, Westbrook recorded his fifth straight triple double and became the first NBA player since Jordan in ’88-’89 to do such a thing. It was Westbrook’s 10th triple double of the season and 47th of his career. And here’s the thing—he’s doing this within the framework of the Thunder winning games and being relevant in the West. Again–if OKC takes cares of Orlando at home and Nick Young was whistled for that walk like he should have been—the Thunder are 15-6 and Westbrook is on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Thing is—he’ll probably be on the cover of SI multiple times anyway as this story unwinds into December and beyond.
OKC had this game under control, but allowed the Pels to close to 94-90 coming down the stretch. Some Buddy Hield threes and some Thunder turnovers were the main culprits to the tight fit, but Westbrook took over, nailed a big three which made Billy Donovan swoon during the ensuing timeout, but nonetheless the Thunder sailed home with their fifth straight win.
Enes Kanter was excellent in this game with 17 rebounds and 10 boards. Adams left the game early with what we hope is a very mild ankle sprain. Dipo was solid with 14 points. Andre Roberson was excellent again with 13 points on 6-8 shooting and it was on his 25th birthday. Roberson has really stepped up his game of late and along with Morrow are secondary reasons the Thunder are playing better as a team.
Morrow didn’t score the ball all that much in 25 minutes, but again there’s the spacing deal. Lauvergne didn’t score all that much as well, but he hauled in 11 rebounds. Jofferey Lauvergne is becoming one of my favorite Thunder bench players. He always finds a way to contribute. He doesn’t do anything one thing exceptionally well, but he does everything pretty well. Samaj Christon wasn’t awful, in 11 minutes he had five assists. Still ready to see Cameron Payne back, but these are great developmental minutes for Christon. Jerami Grant actually guarded Anthony Davis some playing the four position and he competed very nicely. If you can guard Anthony Davis there’s a wide variance of NBA players you can probably guard in this league.
Thunder on the road tomorrow night in Atlanta to play the suddenly reeling Hawks — which really shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise since Dwight Howard is now in Atlanta.
Just so were clear on this, from this point forward it’s not just OKC bloggers following this story, it’s the basketball world watching to see if Russell Westbrook can continue to chase the ghost of Oscar Robertson.