If not sure if the OKC Thunder has turned its season around, but one thing seems apparent, Russell Westbrook has found himself ever since that triple overtime thriller against the Sixers.
With 1.7 seconds left in regulation at home against the wretched Atlanta Hawks, Russell Westbrook saved the Thunder and Billy Donovan from another embarrassing loss to one of this season’s NBA bottom dwellers. This would have been a devastating loss considering the Thunder led by 14 at halftime, but has been the case of late, Bad Little Dude put the Thunder on his back and made the game winning three when it mattered most.
You could say this game shouldn’t have been this close, you could say the Thunder should be better than 17-15 three days before Christmas, you could say Caligula should never have become POTUS…you could say all these things, but here’s what I’ve learned to date in this year of dysfunction—flow with it and be grateful for the win…any win. Embrace the moment.
Russell Westbrook was once again MVP like tonight inside a packed Chesapeake Arena. He played like Oscar or Kobe or Michael. Take your pick. He played smart. He led…and then finished when his teammates couldn’t. His father should be proud. I know I am. This is the Russell Westbrook the Thunder has to have if they’re going to continue their quest of winning the Northwest Division and being relevant in the Western Conference Playoffs.
Russell’s line was excellent. 30 points on 17 shots, 7 rebounds, and 15 assists. Only three turnovers and has been the case of late his shot selection was sagacious. He picked his spots. He got the ball to Carmelo and Adams when they needed it. Carmelo finished with 24 points on seven made threes. Steven double doubled with 16 and 10. Paul George continued to struggle, but that wasn’t on Westbrook, that was on Paul George.
It should have an easy win, but has been the case this season, the Thunder imploded in the third period with Westbrook on the bench. OKC committed seven turnovers in the back half of the third which led to 19 points for the Hawks. Give some credit to Atlanta — Marco Bellinelli, Malcolm Delaney, and former Thunder player Ersan Ilyasova did make some shots, but this game never should have been close.
When Russell Westbrook re-entered the game with 8:40 left in the fourth period, the Thunder trailed by four points. For the remainder of the game the Thunder never allowed another point off a turnover. Westbrook scored 14 points down the stretch and drained the game winner. I don’t know what else Sam Presti or Billy Donovan could ask of their bell cow because their bell cow saved their ass…again.
Don’t look now, but the Thunder this week have moved from 9th in the West to 5th and are now two games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves. If you’re not paying attention the Houston Rockets lost their second straight game tonight. The Celtics have lost two straight. LeBron is in third place in the East and Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs just lost to the same Utah team the Thunder routed on Wednesday night. What I’m saying is OU lost to Iowa State in October, but now finds itself in the national semifinal on Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl because of Baker Mayfield.
What I’m saying is if you have a bell cow who’s playing smart and is playing his ass off hope is still a somewhat doable thing.
What I’m saying is if Russell Westbrook plays like the guy we’ve seen these last handful of games it’s not beyond the stretch of human endeavors this Thunder team ‘could’ somehow navigate its way to the Western Conference Finals if the guys around Westbrook play with more consistency.
I know it sounds crazy considering this team has already lost to Dallas, Sacramento, Brooklyn, and Charlotte, but crazier things have happened.
Paul George obviously has to figure out things before the trade deadline and still actually be a member of the Thunder post the deadline, but we just have to see what happens. I thought what George said of late was revealing in that he said he didn’t realize Westbrook was this fast and he’s had trouble acclimating his game to Bad Little Dude’s Mach 1 pace. Interesting. But we do know this, Sam Presti cannot keep Paul George beyond the trade deadline without a signed extension.
But here’s the thing, With Westbrook once again playing like MVP Westbrook this Thunder team is watchable. It might not be pretty at times, but it’s watchable.
The Thunder improve to 17-15 overall and 9-3 in December. OKC travels to play Utah tonight in the second game of a road back to back. Forget what happened earlier in the week, this should be a tough game. But it should also tell us something about OKC’s character moving forward. It should tells us more of what we should expect from these guys and what we shouldn’t expect. But we know this, OKC didn’t waste itself playing three unnecessary overtimes to beat the pitiful Hawks.
So there should be something in the tank. It should be a motivated Thunder team because for the first time this season if the Thunder win this game in Utah they have Houston coming to the Peake for a Christmas evening game which could be the game where the Thunder say to the basketball world… ‘Hey, maybe we still could be the second best team in the West. Maybe Sam Presti knew WTF he was doing.’ But before we get all the way there, OKC needs to show some heart in Salt Lake because that’s what a real contender should be able to do against a team which won’t have Rudy Gobert.
Big game in Salt Lake tonight. I’m actually kind of jacked.