We used to use this coaching our hockey teams…’Never give a sucker an even break–and kick him when he’s down.’
If ever this mantra was applicable to this Thunder team of dysfunction it was on Wednesday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena as Bad Little Dude, a.k.a. Russell Westbrook, buried the reeling Utah Jazz with a first quarter TKO which ended this game and led to a wire to wire 107-79 rout.
True, the Jazz looked worn out before tip at the end of a six game road trip and were minus two of their best players in Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, but when you have a team down this is what good teams do.. namely, they put their foot on a throat and leave nothing to doubt.
Of course, the idiots on the Fox telecast, gave Carmelo the Player of the Game award, but anyone who was paying attention knows this was classic Russell Westbrook in the first period as it ‘appears’ the Thunder might be figuring out the hierarchy of their current roster.
For the second straight game, this was MVP Bad Little Dude. This was the guy who had Oscar Robertson fawning over him like Caligula has Mike Pence drooling on him after the tax reform passage. This was that Bad Little Dude.
This was BLD’s line in the rout of Utah. 25 minutes played, +36, 10-13 shooting the ball, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals.
It was vintage Westbrook. When Russell Westbrook narrows his shot selection and goes mid range he becomes a very scary player.
It’s still hard to tell if this team is in the real process of smartening the fuck up or if they just caught a very susceptible Utah team on a bad night, but it’s Christmas and let’s not be too pessimistic.
This is the template for OKC if they want to aspire to overtake Minnesota for the Northwest Division and live to see the second round of the Western Conference Playoffs.
Of Course, Paul George and Carmelo shot the ball like shit again going a combined 10-24, but on this night it didn’t matter as Westbrook, George, Adams, Roberson, and Jerami Grant used their defensive length to register 15 steals and get out in transition like the team they should be.
Overall, this is not a good shooting Thunder team. The strength of this team should be Westbrook, transition defense to offense, and being a really good rebounding team. This bullshit where you think you’re going to feature thirty-three year old Carmelo Anthony slowing down the ball is not what this team should be about. Carmelo is a luxury, albeit one Sam Presti probably should have passed on, but we have to remember—at the time of Carmelo’s signing Russell Westbrook wasn’t yet signed to his extension.
When OKC gets down to business it can put this defensive team on the floor…Westbrook, George, Adams, Roberson, and Grant. That’s a steal and a fast break basket waiting to happen for the Thunder.
This Thunder team isn’t going to be the Warriors or the Rockets because they don’t shoot the ball like those two teams. So…moving forward, I’m hoping this is more of what we see from the Thunder. Length, defense, transition…something more akin to Nolan Richardson’s 40 Minutes of Hell Doctrine defensively.
Don’t look, but the Thunder just nudged up into the 6th seed in the West. Don’t laugh, even with all the dysfunction, the Thunder could still at some point climb to the No. 4 seed in the West.
But for now, let’s think baby steps. As in overtaking the T Wolves and winning a Northwest Division. That’s the reset, the doable goal, but with an eye to developing a team identity which ‘could’ beat the Warriors or ‘could’ beat the Rockets on a given night. These should be the baby step goals moving forward. It’s up to Billy Donovan as a coach to show us if beating either one of those two teams four times in a two week span is crazy talk Fool’s Gold come April.
The Thunder are now 8-3 in December and 16-15 overall. It ‘appears’ the cloud of dysfunction has lifted a little. Maybe it’s just the feel of Christmas, maybe it was the Whitney Houston song, maybe the Thunder are starting to smarten the fuck up.
Dumb teams are like dogs who play in the street, namely…you don’t see them around very long.
We’ll see.