In a season which has had some truly glorious moments with Russell Westbrook chasing Oscar Robertson, Friday night in Phoenix was genuinely a train wreck as the Thunder no-showed their way to a disgraceful 120-99 loss to the tanking Phoenix Suns. Keep in mind, this is a Phoenix team which grounded their vets already this season and came into last night on a thirteen game losing streak and an eight game home losing streak.
This is a team basically trying to lose and on this night the Thunder were so bad the Suns couldn’t get the loss despite their fans showing up to root Russell Westbrook on for his 42nd triple double.
It was a disgraceful performance by the Thunder, there’s no other way you can say it. From top to bottom, no one showed up on a night which could have been a showcase for Westbrook, the team, and the league.
Russell Westbrook wasn’t the best player in the league last night, he wasn’t even the best player on the floor. That would have been Trevor Booker who torched the Thunder whenever he wanted to on this night in the desert.
If there was a silver lining on this night it was Westbrook’s eight assists which locked his seasonal triple double making him the second player in history to average a triple double in an entire season.
But let’s not kid ourselves here, this was a putrid performance by the Thunder on every level imaginable. This isn’t the type of showing which in any way would sway an undecided voter to cast their MVP vote for the guy not named James Harden.
Having written all that, Russell Westbrook has truly been incredible this season and I hope he and his teammates show up on Sunday in Denver and give the league the type of performance which makes everyone know how truly incredible Russell Westbrook has been this basketball season.
In closing, there shouldn’t be all that much angst from Thunder fans who’ve watched all seventy-nine games so far this season because this is what the Thunder are currently, that being, a team which on some nights can look like a promising young team being anchored by a generational superstar, but on other nights a team which can look worse than a team which was suppose to lose its fourteenth straight game of the season.
It must truly suck to be a Phoenix fan this season because even when you’re suppose to lose–you can’t.
The Thunder are in Denver on Sunday afternoon.