Very, very odd game for the Thunder in Charlotte. And yet when the dust settled and you figured the Thunder could be 2-5…they weren’t.
Consider this, as a team the Thunder shot 8-37 from three point land. More to the point if you exclude Alex Abrines from this stat, the Thunder as a team were 3-27 shooting threes. If you then exclude Dennis Schroder’s 2-6 the Thunder were a ghastly 1-21. Paul George had a horrible shooting game going 4-20 overall and 0-10 from beyond the arc. Russell Westbrook was 0-3 shooting threes and struggled up until the fourth quarter when he finally put his Rickey Vaughn cape on and stormed the mound.
Consider this as well, the Thunder had four assists as a team the first half and 16 assists in the second half when they roared back from a 19 point mid third period deficit to somehow beat the Charlotte Hornets on the road by a 111-107 count.
And in the end, when the Thunder needed their closer to come out and finish the road win…Rickey ‘Wild Thing’ Vaughn came out of Billy Donovan’s bullpen and got his coach a much needed win.
Westbrook scored 13 points in the fourth period on an array of Wild Thing dunks and breakaways, plus a couple of key mid-range jumpers. But this night was in reality the night in which Alex Abrines and Dennis Schroder scored a combined 46 points as the Thunder’s bench unit backcourt. I would assume that sets a Thunder team record for that feat in particular.
Hamidou Diallo came off the bench and did some nice things as well in scoring six points and doing a myriad of Westbrook-like athletic things.
The thing which really impressed me with these three is that as role players on the road they didn’t seem fazed at all by the situation. Usually young role players tighten up on the road and under perform. This was not the case by these three in a game in which the Thunder needed desperately to keep their season headed in the right direction.
For me, the good news is in multiples as the Thunder now sit at 3-4 and are set to play the reeling Washington Wizards tonight on the second night of a road back to back. But beyond even this at least the Thunder are watchable even with their warts and it won’t be a death march of a season. The Warriors will still win the championship, but we have Rickey Vaughn.
Russell Westbrook appears to be back in game shape after missing the preseason and the first two regular season games. Wild Thing is back with all his glory. I mean, let’s not coat this like I’m Nick Gallo or Royce Young and on the Thunder payroll per se. Russell Westbrook is Rickey “Wild Thing’ Vaughn. Period. Paul George called him the baddest motherfucker in the league in his post game comments last night…so I can’t imagine there’s anything wrong with me calling Russell….Wild Thing.
I mean, Bob Cousy and John Stockton will never be confused with Russell Westbrook. It is what it is and you have to be who you are. And if you’re Rickey Vaughn coming out of the bullpen with a 100 mph heater then that’s who you are. If you know what I mean?
But every great closer needs his starters and middle relief guys to set the table for him. And on this night in Charlotte both Alex Abrines and Dennis Schroder were superb in setting the table for Russell Westbrook’s first save of the season.