OKC Thunder Grades: Westbrook Too Much for Red-Hot 76ers

The Storm Report has your OKC Thunder grades from Wednesday’s nerve-racking win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Thunder came out incredibly sluggish, allowing Philadelphia to jump out to an early 15-point lead. Fortunately for OKC, the bench wouldn’t allow Philly to ever truly run away with the game, overcoming two big 76er runs, despite being down late in the third. The last quarter seemed to be all Thunder until Jason Richardson nailed two late threes to send the game into overtime. Ultimately though, Russell Westbrook‘s 40-point triple-double was just enough to turn Philly’s near-perfect night into a narrow OKC escape. Such is life for the Thunder.

OKC THUNDER GRADES – The Starting Five

Stats: 2 points, 0-of-2 FGA, 4 rebounds.

It’s kind of become the “same ol’, same ol'” for

. He’s in the starting lineup for floor spacing and on-ball defense and he performed both roles fairly well. However, he’s never going to be enough of a stats-monger to merit a very high team-grade. It’ll get better for Singler once he resumes his bench role.

Stats: 2 points, 1-of-5 FGA, 2 rebounds, 4 blocks.

had a down game, getting into foul trouble early and struggling to make much of a contribution at all in the first half. In fact, Serge was held scoreless for the first two quarters. Things turned around a bit for Air Congo in the second half, including two pivotal blocks at the outset of overtime. Unfortunately, he would foul out mid-way through the extra-period leaving a very incomplete-feel to his game.

Stats:49  points, 16-of-33 FGA, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals, 1 block.

Queue the “MVP” chants…because at this point, what else is there to say? Westbrook dropped his 4th straight triple-double, scored a career high, and looks to be on the verge of high-jacking an MVP race that no one could have imagined he’d be able to reinsert himself into. Oh yea…he also had the dunk of the year thus far:

Long live the Brodie.

Stats: 0 points, 0-of-0 FGA, 2 rebounds.

Aside from Westbrook, the Thunder starters were tragically horrible.

was certainly the low-point, adding nothing offensively and posting a -21 for the game. Think about that. The Thunder were 21 points worse than the Sixers in the mere 12 minutes that Roberson was on the floor. Woof.

Stats: 8

points, 4-of-8 FGA, 5 rebounds.

Enes Kanter played a mere 21 minutes tonight, becoming a semi-forgotten vestige of the Thunder’s offense down the stretch. This was for two reasons: A.) Serge’s foul trouble left no rim-protector to cover Kanter’s deficiencies and B.) the Thunder found most of their success with a small-ball attacking unit. Kanter will get a chance to play a bigger role against Chicago’s bigs tomorrow night.

OKC THUNDER GRADES – The Reserves

Stats: 62 points, 23-of-48 FGA, 25 rebounds, 9 assists.

Tonight was a night for Sam Presti to pound on his chest a little bit. What was once a lack-laster unit became the strength for the Thunder tonight. It seemed like every single player contributed in some sort of profound way.

put together an obscene 20 and 10 game on 60% shooting.

also broke the 15 point barrier, scoring 17 of his own.

was huge in the first half, knocking down three triples and posting a RIDICULOUS +34.

and

continued their best bash-brothers impersonation, combining for 14 points and 11 boards. Simply put, everyone on the bench contributed and are the biggest reason that the Thunder didn’t suffer a massive collapse despite the starting lineup’s struggles.

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS – Top Performer

Stats: 31 points,  10-of-16 FGA, 7 rebounds, 6 assists.

Who? I think that’s what all Thunder fans were asking when

exploded for five first quarter three-pointers. This was truly a career night for Canaan as he seemed to be hitting absolutely everything he put up. It was nearly a perfect night for the Sixers and Canaan was a huge catalyst of that.

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