OKC Thunder Handle Overmatched New Orleans Pelicans

The OKC Thunder cruised to a 114-105 victory of the New Orleans Pelicans in the Big Easy on Wednesday night.

Despite a late run fueled mostly by the bench of the Pelicans while Russell Westbrook was resting, this one never felt like it was in any danger for the OKC Thunder. Especially not after New Orleans All-Star Anthony Davis was forced from the game in the 2^nd quarter. Davis was cold from the floor, and with the exception of Jrue Holiday, the Pelicans just aren’t very good.

Russ put up his 23^rd triple-double of the season, scoring 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. He also had 8 turnovers, and his recent run of sloppiness with the ball has become disconcerting.

It was a strange shooting night for Russ as he was only 3-13 from 2 and 4-9 from deep. This was his 60^th career triple-double, and he has now surpassed Larry Bird for fifth most triple-doubles all time. Wilt Chamberlain is currently in fourth with 78. If Russell keeps this up, he should finish the season fourth all time.

Steven Adams had a huge double-double, putting up 20 points and 11 rebounds, and was a brick wall defending the interior (4 blocks, lost count of how many shots he altered) for the Thunder this evening. Domantas Sabonis played his heart out tonight, making several hustle plays especially in the first half. He finished the evening with 8 points and 6 rebounds.

Enes Kanter continued to make his case for 6^th Man of the Year, putting up a 17 point and 11 rebound double-double in just 21 minutes off the bench. Andre Roberson was a perfect 4-4 from the field, and he chipped in three blocks and a steal on the defensive end.

Victor Oladipo had a very nice, if quiet game this evening. Dipo finished with 15 points on 5-11 from the field. Finally, Alex Abrines knocked down two crucial wide open threes and finished with 11 points on 4-5 shooting in 18 minutes off the bench.

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As a team, the Thunder thoroughly outplayed the Pelicans for the vast majority of the contest. They outrebounded the Pelicans 55-47, outscored them in the paint 62-54, and they shot 4% better from the field.

That being said, however, the Thunder were sloppy with the ball, especially late, as they had 16 turnovers tonight. Hopefully, a lot of that came from them completely taking their foot off the gas after being up by 22. The Thunder only trailed by 2 once early this evening, and the Pelicans managed to tie the game two other times in the first quarter. Other than that, the Thunder led the entire game.

OKC improves to 27-19 on the season, and are .5 games ahead of Memphis for the 6th seed in the Western Conference. Further, OKC closes out this six game road trip with a 3-3 record. They return home tomorrow night for a showdown with the Dallas Mavericks before heading right back out to face the reeling Cavaliers in Cleveland.