It doesn’t matter the Denver Nuggets aren’t very good and have now given up 120 points or more for the fourth straight game. What matters for the OKC Thunder is that in their first of three homes games in the entire month of January they beat the Nuggets by a 121-106 count inside of Chesapeake Energy Arena.
This wasn’t like the three straight road losses in that the Thunder had a working margin heading into the final few minutes and again the Nuggets are a very bad defensive team which is going absolutely nowhere. Just win the game and get some confidence heading into Chicago on Monday night. Mission accomplished on both counts for the Thunder.
Russell Westbrook notched his 17th triple double of the season and it was easy, but then again it was the Nuggets sitting on the other bench. Westbrook’s line reads 32 points, 17 rebounds, and 11 assists. Westbrook defied his 30% average shooting threes and gave his impression of Steph Curry for the second straight game going 7-12 shooting threes and being a Durant-like efficient 10-20 from the field overall. Unlike recent games of late when Westbrook has put up thirty shots or so, Westbrook didn’t monopolize the shots nearly as much and there was some offensive flow for OKC for most of the game.
There was good balance from OKC’s other starters. Adams went for 16 and 6, but should have still had more touches. Oladipo had a high energy game with 15,3, and 3. I thought Andre Roberson had a very nice game for the second game in a row with 13 points, 8 rebounds, and was 5-8 from the line. Sabonis added nine points and like Roberson was a contributor for the second straight game.
Enes Kanter did his thing scoring 14 points coming off the bench. Jerami Grant had four blocks. Lauvergne only five minutes and thus wasn’t much of a factor. Alex Abrines chipped in 7 points and continued to show some grit in his overall game.
Tonight marked Cameron’s Payne’s return from his Jones’ fracture injury in his first game of the season. Payne went 3-4 scoring 8 points in thirteen minutes of play. I thought he looked slow and pretty much like a guy who hasn’t played much in while, but Payne down the road can help this team offensively once he gets back into game shape. How much he can help this team remains to be see.
OKC improves its overall record to 22-16 and is in the 7th seed position in the West. The Thunder head to Chicago for a Monday night game against a 19-18 Bulls team led by Jimmy Butler. Westbrook vs Butler in itself is an intriguing matchup, but this is one of these January from Hell road games where Westbrook needs to finish and OKC needs to win.