Views from OKC: Ending the first half on a positive note

Welcome to Views from OKC, Thunderous Intentions’ daily roundup of the best OKC Thunder stories across the web.

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Thunder secure much-need win against New York

“It will be an uncomfortable four days in New Orleans, culminating with a game that nobody is sure how it will go. Westbrook’s previous trips to the All-Star Game have never been alone, and with Durant’s return game at OKC and the emotions that came with it still very fresh, the tensions will be high.”

You know Russell Westbrook was going to have a big night on Wednesday when he said this. Westbrook was electric, finishing with 38 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists. At halftime he was three points away from John Wall’s typical full-game statline. This was one of those games where Russ behaved like the best player in the NBA; there’s nothing you can do when he starts playing like that.

Must Read: Russell Westbrook is the Thunder’s Guy

Addressing the Melo rumors

“In eight of its past nine games, Oklahoma City has shot less than 30 percent from 3-point range. In five of those nine, it’s failed to make 40 percent of its total shots. Anthony’s 44.6 percent shooting is below his career average, but he’s making 36.7 percent of his 5.7 3-point attempts per game. He’d be an immediate offensive upgrade.”

I need to put a stop to this right now. At the end of last night’s game there were audible “Melo to OKC” chants. That is the absolute last thing we want to happen. OKC’s offense is already dominated by Westbrook, and bringing in Carmelo would only hinder the ball movement even more. The Thunder need someone who can score without dominating the basketball and Melo is not the answer.

Views from Twitter

Bringing in Big Perk is the best move Billy Donovan has made in his tenure. Would the Thunder have won that game even if Kendrick wasn’t at the morning shootaround? Most likely. But how fitting is it that the guys showed more fight against New York than they did against Washington? I’ll give a lil credit to the man who originated “Cupcake.”

At first I saw this tweet and thought, “How are five threes going to be interesting to watch?” But than you realize that Abrines has more skills than just shooting. You see that block at #5? He’s got an even better one on Tyreke Evans IMO. So yeah, those five plays were actually really interesting to watch.

Bonus tweet!! LOL jk, in all honesty this is an experiment to see if our professional tweeter reads the articles before he tweets 😉