Don’t look now, but the once 0-4 Thunder are now 10-5 and in third place in the West.
Russell Westbrook once again sat nursing his sprained ankle and it mattered little if any as the Thunder cruised to a 110-100 road win over the youthful Phoenix Suns. On this night both shooting guards Terrance Ferguson and Alex Abrines both missed the game as well with the sniffles. Thunder team mother Nick Gallo I presume came to the rescue with more chicken noodle soup and Vicks inhalers for both Ferguson and Abrines.
Hamidou Diallo Nature Boy filled in for Ferguson with the starters playing the Andre Roberson role while Timothy Luwawu-Caborret (TLC) filled in for Diallo as the energy guy coming off the bench.
It was TLC’s first real sustained game minutes with the Thunder and he filled in beautifully scoring 12 points in 25 minutes of play. This is the deepest and most balanced team in the Thunder era and TLC is a perfect illustration as he came off the bench rusty and didn’t miss a beat.
Paul George once again was excellent with a 32 point, 11 rebound night. PG has quietly assumed the leadership role of the team in Westbrook’s absence and quite frankly the team appears to be more functional with Paul George and Dennis Schroder in essence both running the offense thru them with calm and reduced dysfunction.
Steven Adams in my view appears to be the guy who we saw in those great minutes in the 2016 post season series versus the Spurs when it became apparent he would bloom as one of the NBA’s better centers. Adams has been excellent this season. By far his best season to date production wise and when the Thunder remember he’s there he in a word has been an unstoppable offensive option which should be getting 15 shots a game minimum. Anotherword, in financial parlance if you have a $25 million asset then be smart enough to monetize your asset to the fullest.
Dennis Schroder continued his rock solid play with a 15 point, 7 assist, 4 steal night. I didn’t give Schroder enough credit earlier in the season in that he’s more than just a 6th man. What I now hope to see in Schroder is what we saw from Harden in 2012 as he helped Russell work thru his Wild Thing moments on the point.
Give Billy Donovan credit…he obviously has these guys listening and playing hard. The stupid turnovers have been minimized. The effort on defense is obvious. The free throw shooting is stabilizing. All good things.
The Thunder now play in Sacramento on Monday night as the Kings have predictably started their descent to the bottom third of the West where Vegas and I both knew they belonged when were filling out our Daily Thunder Western Conference bracket sheet. The Kings clearly have some nice young players, but in no way do I see the Kings above the .400 mark when 82 games have been played and are in the books.
The Daily Thunder millennial Trekkies should start to come back to the empirical mean as like Secretariat I have begun my normal ascent. I have no idea if Justin from Miami is in the field, but as we both know we know how this will end come mid-April despite some of the murky tiebreakers used at Daily Thunder. It was good to see the nascent Perk Punt near the top in that he was one of my TSN proteges at one time much like Budenholzer was to Pop.
Could the Thunder be the second best team in the West?
It’s possible and would have been even more probable if the Rockets hadn’t cut Carmelo. I still expect Utah to gain traction and start moving upward along with the Lakers. I do. My top five in the West is still what I had in the beginning of the season…1 Golden State, 2 Houston, 3 Utah, 4 Oklahoma City, and 5 LA LeBron.
The Thunder in Sacramento tomorrow night with Chris Fisher doing the call. I like Chris… he’s an incredible upgrade over dipshit.
LET”S GO THUNDER!
Here’s Thunder team mom Nick Gallo breastfeeding TLC during a preseason interview. Look at Nick Gallo. He literally glows like a mother when he’s near these Thunder players. Almost radiant. I honestly believe he’s fallen in love with Russell Westbrook much like Draymond did with Kevie. You gotta keep a close eye on these NBA dudes. They’re nothing like hockey and football players.