It was a fun night at Chesapeake Energy Arena as the OKC Thunder did pretty much what they wanted to with the abysmal Los Angeles Lakers enroute to a 110-93 cakewalk win. Russell Westbrook was sublime in registering his 28th triple double of the season, but this one was different. This one was a signature to the complete versatility Westbrook possesses as a player. It read… 17 points, 18 rebounds, and 17 assists and the ability to do whatever he wanted to do on this particular night whenever he wanted to do it. It was vintage Westbrook as he dueled Oscar Robertson from the past and James Harden in the present for a season of basketball immortality of sorts.
OKC’s two new additions–Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott played and had some positive moments which give some hope for the remaining 24 regular season games and beyond.
But the storylines on this night beyond Westbrook were the utterly fabulous nights both Alex Abrines and Andre Roberson had on the same night. Abrines got the first start of his NBA career when it was decided Victor Oladipo couldn’t play because of back spasms…really. Does anyone think Russell Westbrook would miss a game due to a back spasm? Not.
Anyway, Abrines started and didn’t disappoint as he scored 19 points and was a key 5-11 shooting threes. This is what OKC has been craving from Abrines and on this night the rookie delivered the goods as his points created the space which made this an easy win for the Thunder.
Usually shooting challenged Andre Roberson was even better as he scored a career high 19 points on a 8-9, 3-3 shooting night and made Sam Presti extremely grateful his didn’t trade Roberson on the trade deadline. It was a nice evening for Roberson who genuinely seems like a great young man who just usually can’t make baskets–otherwise he’s a very nice player.
Steven Adams had a solid game. Domas Sabonis had a nice second half after struggling in the first half and showed some confidence in his game which had been lacking of late. Good for him and Abrines as it was White Euro Night in OKC. If only Steven Bannon had been sitting next to Clay Bennett and the crowd could have thrown shit at Draymond Green it would have been the perfect touch in New Confederacy outlier Oklahoma City.
Enes Kanter played his first game since breaking his own arm on a chair and pretty much looked like a player who’s going to need a few games rounding back into game time playing shape as he went 2-12 and didn’t seem to have his legs or his timing. But still, it’s nice to have him back spear heading the bench unit.
OKC improves to 33-25 and is now only a half game back of the Memphis Grizzlies for 6th place and three games back of the Utah Jazz for 4th place in the West.
All in all, it was a very positive night for the Thunder as with their new roster they started the task of overhauling the Utah Jazz for the 4th seed in the West and white supremacy in the NBA’s Northwest Division with twenty-four games left in the regular season.
The New Orleans Pelicans are in town on Sunday night with their new star DeMarcus Cousins making his OKC debut wearing a Pelicans jersey. It’s a home game OKC needs to win as they host the Utah Jazz on Tuesday in what is suddenly a big game for the Thunder.