Russell Westbrook’s 46 points were exciting to watch on Monday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena, but in the end, Atlanta’s ball movement and overall team play were just enough to get the Hawks an exciting 110-108 road win over a now struggling Thunder.
From a fan’s standpoint, it was an exciting game to watch as the game went back and forth all night long up until the very end when a Steven Adams put back dunk at the buzzer was just half a second late at the buzzer. But the trend is clear now for the Thunder, since the Oladipo wrist injury the Thunder are a collective 1-3 with only a win over the lowly Phoenix Suns to show for their efforts.
I thought OKC got outcoached on Monday night. Atlanta was without it’s best rim protector in Dwight Howard, yet the Thunder in no way ever made this an issue for the Hawks. Steven Adams and Enes Kanter weren’t even factors in the game as together they attempted nine shots on the night, granted they made six of the nine, but they never were significant factors in the game.
Atlanta went small with Paul Millsap as their only big and dictated the terms of the game all night long as they clogged the lane and took away the rim. On the other side of the ball, Atlanta spaced the floor, moved the ball, and continually created great looks for Millsap and Dennis Schroeder. So while Westbrook scored 46 points on 33 shots, Shroder and Millsap scored a combined 61 points on 34 shots. OKC defensively never really had an answer for either one of them.
OKC without Oladipo is an ugly basketball team. It’s not just his 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists–it’s more than that. He’s a player Russell Westbrook trusts and at times on Monday night it didn’t appear Westbrook had much faith in his teammates as the ball did not move all that much. Don’t get me wrong, from a viewing standpoint, it was exciting to see if Westbrook could beat the Hawks by himself, but against decent teams which are well coached that’s not going to work on most nights as this season moves along.
Oklahoma City had 13 assists on the night, Atlanta had 24 assists. Plus, there was little transition from OKC on the night as they only scored four fast break points.
Anthony Morrow started, yet was ineffective. Sabonis in no way fit as the game stayed small while Adams and Kanter never touched the ball much when they were on the floor.. Andre Roberson did score 14 points and hit some threes, but he was erratic and never created any consistent spacing for the Thunder. He never will because the book is out on him…let him shoot the ball and see if he can beat you. As an opposing coach would you rather have Westbrook and Adams getting to the rim or Roberson shooting threes? Duh.
Abrines scored nine points. Jerami Grant had a nice game scoring 15 points and was OKC’s second leading scorer. When Jerami Grant is your second leading scorer my guess is OKC won’t win on most nights and didn’t on Monday night. Both Lauvergne and Collison didn’t play much, while Kyle Singler played some significant minutes, yet he never once attempted a perimeter shot of any kind. I have no idea what Billy Donovan is doing in that if you’re going to go small that’s fine, but the guys you’re going small with have to be able to score some.
Bazemore, Thabo, and Kyle Korver all finished in double figures for Atlanta and supported the scoring of Schroder and Millsap very nicely.
In the four games Oladipo has missed, the Thunder are 1-3 as a team while Russell Westbrook is 1-3 versus the ghost of Oscar Robertson. In each of the three losses he came up short in the assist department. To make a long story short, the Thunder, Billy Donovan, and Russell Westbrook all need Victor Oladipo back on the floor.
Still no word from the Thunder on either Oladipo or Cam Payne’s return to the floor.
OKC drops to 16-12 and has fallen to the No. 7 seed in the West.
The Thunder in New Orleans on Wednesday to play a Pelican team which is getting healthier.