No Nene. No Bradley Beal. Not even Kevin Durant in the second half after a hamstring strain late in the first half. Nary any drama from the Wizard crowd in regards to Durant’s impending free agency. But most of all no contest whatsoever in an alleged battle of elite point guards as Russell Westbrook destroyed John Wall while leading the Thunder to a no mas blowout 125-101 win over the punchless Wizards.
Vintage Russell Westbrook. Triple double No. 20 in the Westbrook File. In twenty-eight minutes it went 22 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and most importantly a message sent….why would Kevin Durant leave Russell Westbrook to join John Wall if he’s serious about winning an NBA championship? Know what I mean?
Russell Westbrook is my OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game.
Another very good game from Dion Waiters. He was second on my list. That’s two back to back seconds for Dion in his pursuit of this prestigious award. Waiters finished with 25 points on a 7-10 night from the field. He wasn’t just good, he was excellent.
Other things…..
With Durant—OKC won the first half 68-50. Without Durant–OKC won the second half 57-51.
OKC had 27 assists to 12 turnovers.
Thirteen different Thunder players scored. Even Anthony Morrow, who went 1-6 in 16 minutes.
Have to keep an eye on that Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, Kanter, Roberson lineup as the season moves along and how often Billy Donovan employs it against good teams.
OKC is the No. 1 rebounding team in the league and showed it pounding the Wizards 53-41 on the night.
John Kasich and Jeb Bush, the two guys who worked for Lehman Brothers are in serious trouble…they couldn’t answer the banking question. Oh, wait—this is a basketball blog.
Thunder shot 51.2% from the field and an even gaudier 15-23 from beyond the arc.
Kevin Durant garnered a first half double double with 17 points, 10 rebounds in 17 minutes.
Kyle Singler must have seen my Duke video of him here on the blog and decided it was time not to suck. Dude knows what Thunder blog to follow.
OKC improves to 5-3 with the easy walk-off win. My former Philly 76’ers in OKC Friday night on Friday the 13th. Just me, but I wouldn’t even allow Kevin Durant to dress out for this one.
Mike Jackson