The Russell Westbrook Runner-up Award: Rewarding a newcomer
By Chris Hughes
If there was to be an Oklahoma City Thunder Player of the Week award there would only be one winner, week in and week out. With that in mind, the Russell Westbrook Runner-up Award hopes to celebrate the little guy – the Robin to Russ’ Batman.
Over the past seven days the Oklahoma City Thunder have extended their winning streak to four, beating the Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets and most recently the Toronto Raptors. On that run several Thunder players not-named-Russell-Westbrook stood out, but one in particular shone brighter than the rest – Taj Gibson.
For the first time since being traded to the Thunder, the power forward enjoyed consecutive double-figure games. In fact, he’s scored at least 10 points in all of his three games across the past week.
Against the Jazz, a key matchup against the current four seed, Gibson scored 15 points off of a 78 percent shot conversion. Having scored seven of his nine attempted field goals, it was the 31-year-old’s best shot percentage in a game since the start of January.
The big man also added six rebounds and just a single turnover to his game in a clean performance for his side, with the Thunder winning by eight to win 112-104.
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Gibson continued his run in the Thunder’s starting five against the Brooklyn Nets, in which himself and Steven Adams faced the difficult task of having to shut down the dangerous Brook Lopez. The power forward hit a single three-pointer and added seven rebounds to an impressive performance in which he was alive at both ends of the court to produce a defensive and offensive masterpiece.
His 17-point return was his highest since joining the Thunder last month, and was also his highest return since the Bulls’ matchup with the Houston Rockets at the start of February.
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The 31-year old’s performance, which is normally quiet, featured some highlight reel plays too. Gibson produced a fantastic alley-oop finish to get the traveling fans off their feet and the side beat the Nets 122-104 in the end.
With the Thunder next playing tomorrow, Gibson’s run of three games finished off with another solid performance against the Toronto Raptors two nights ago.
The 31-year-old had the task of dealing with former OKC man Serge Ibaka, who has enjoyed a stellar start to life away from OKC. When the Congolese big faced the Thunder while still on the Magic, he scored 31 points against Domantas Sabonis.
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Last night, Ibaka scored 10.
The 27-year-old was limited to just five-from-eleven shooting thanks to Gibson’s athletic defense, and he also assisted on the offensive end with 10 points himself. The difference lies where Ibaka finished with a -27 plus/minus differential; Gibson finished with an emphatic +26.
In fact, Taj has failed to record a negative plus/minus all week, with a +3 against the Nets being his worst of an impressive week’s showing.
Next up for Gibson and the gang is a game against the Sacramento Kings, before a highly anticipated match-up against the Golden State Warriors on Monday.
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