You live by the Russell Westbrook sword and you die by the Russell Westbrook sword–and the latter was the storyline in this one as Westbrook couldn’t carry the starting unit on his back this night in Portland. OKC led by seven points with 5:41 left in the game, but then went cold and allowed a 16-0 run by the Trailblazers which turned the game. The Thunder did fight back and Westbrook had a good look on a three to tie the game late, but the shot went in and out and OKC’s four game win streak came to an end.
A weird night for Westbrook with a line of 45 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists on a 12-36 shooting night. I usually don’t say much about Westbrook’s shots, but 36 is too many. He took 36 of OKC’s team total 86 shots and I love the Kobe butterfly visual and everything, but 36 shots in a game which didn’t go to overtime is too much.
Victor Oladipo missed his fourth straight game with back spasms and the other Thunder starters just weren’t very good in this game. Combined, Sabonis, Roberson, Adams, and Abrines had 12 points. That’s simply not going to get it done. Steven Adams was horrible with 2 points and a -23 on the night. Sabonis only played 11 minutes and it’s debatable whether he should have played that many minutes. It’s time for Taj Gibson to start. Billy Donovan needs to pull that trigger and find developmental minutes for Sabonis with the second unit. This is big boy ball, this isn’t the North Edmond Youth Soccer League, playing time isn’t a guarantee. Over zealous mothers charting playing time aren’t part of the equation.
OKC’s bench was pretty good in this game as they garnered 52 points and were on the plus side. Both Gibson and Kanter had bright spots and need to absorb those 11 minutes from Sabonis for the time being. Again, the Big Boy Ball thing.
Doug McDermott had a tough night going 1-6 shooting threes.
On a bright spot, I thought Norris Cole looked pretty good as the backup point guard. He’s a significant upgrade from Semaj Christon and Presti gets a thumbs up on this move as well.
But in the end, it’s about making shots and in this one OKC didn’t make shots in the fourth period on the road and got beat by a team ten games under .500.
OKC drops to 35-26 on the season and plays in Phoenix tomorrow night on the second night of a road back to back.