After not making the game deciding plays on Friday night versus the Rockets, Russell Westbrook and the Thunder made the big plays which counted down the stretch on Sunday evening against the Celtics to grind out a tough 99-96 home win inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.
It was a game in reality which Oklahoma City shouldn’t have won, but did in fact win. For starters, Oklahoma City was horrid offensively in the first half scoring a season low 39 points as they trailed 43-39 at the break. The Thunder lost Victor Oladipo late in the first period when he fell awkwardly on Jonas Jerebko and sprained his wrist. Oladipo did not return.
But there was even more to overcome as the Thunder missed their first 16 three point attempts and finished an abysmal 3-21 from behind the arc for the game. If this wasn’t enough to clinch a home loss, the Thunder continued their woes at the free throw line shooting 14-27 (61.3%) and only had 17 assists on the night. But amazingly the Thunder somehow found a way to win this game in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 13 points in the third period.
Without Oladipo at his disposal, Billy Donovan had to try some other lineup combinations. First blush would tell you this would mean more minutes for Jerami Grant. But not so fast as Billy D decided go hard and heavy with Semaj Christon. Christon responded with his best game as an NBA professional going 3-3, scoring 9 points while adding some ‘little thing’ plays which proved valuable for the Thunder in the fourth quarter. Kyle Singler and Alex Abrines both played for the first time in a while, and together on the floor I might add as the Thunder drew within four at the end of third period as Billy Donovan discarded every plus/minus metric variable known to humanity and the millennials and it worked. Maybe Michael Lewis has this in his new book in a chapter entitled ‘When To Go With Your Gut.’ Anyway, go figure.
I’m now beginning my fourth paragraph on this recap and I figure it’s pretty much time to talk about Russell Westbrook, Oscar Robertson, and Michael Jordan. Not really. This will be about Westbrook only as in despite having his triple double streak snapped at seven he was simply magnificent in the second half comeback by the Thunder. Westbrook’s line was 37-12-6 and you have to figure if Oladipo had played Westbrook would have probably gotten those other four assists, but it really doesn’t matter because the Thunder found a way to win a game they desperately needed.
Of Westbrook’s 37 points, 23 of them came in the second half as he shot 14-26 on the night. Keep in mind, during Westbrook’s streak of seven triples he shot a combined 38% from the field. In essence, this was one of Westbrook’s better shooting games in a while and on this night without Oladipo and with Anthony Morrow going 2-8 from the field it was essential to the Thunder’s cause.
The last thirty seconds were vintage Westbrook. A highlight reel which of in itself should be either be an opening or closing argument to his MVP candidacy. With the game tied at 94 apiece inside a minute, Westbrook weaved and darted to the rim to score an amazing basket which gave the Thunder a 96-94 lead with thirty seconds left. Not long after, Westbrook found himself in a jump ball situation with Avery Bradley under the Thunder basket in a jump ball setting to decide the game. Westbrook easily won the tap which led to a breakout uncontested dunk by Jerami Grant which essentially sealed this improbable comeback win by the Thunder. Westbrook scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, but it was the tap out which might have been the play of the game.
Steven Adams had his second straight solid game offensively with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Kanter went 14 and 6, and Jofferey Lauvergne had a nice game with 7 points and 8 rebounds.
But even with the solid contributions from others, it was an ending which belonged to Russell Westbrook. This was the seventh time this season the Thunder have rallied from behind in the fourth quarter to win a ball game. Quite a departure from last season when the Thunder with Kevin Durant led the entire NBA in blown fourth quarter leads. And make no mistake about it, each of the seven wins have Westbrook’s prints all over each of them. People talk about the triple double incessantly which is fine, but what is more important to the Thunder’s cause is Westbrook is becoming a closer without Kevin Durant at his side. There is no awkwardness or ambiguity any longer, this is Westbrook’s show and every Thunder to a man knows it.
Thunder improve to 15-9 and have what will be a challenging back to back at Portland on Tuesday and at Utah on Wednesday. If Oladipo isn’t available, Billy Donovan will have to mix and max like he did tonight, but even more importantly, Russell Westbrook will have to continue to show the basketball world his evolution as a superstar and why his MVP candidacy is very real.
Not exactly the year of Mark Cuban so far. Just saying.