Views from OKC: I’m not overreacting just yet but…

Views from OKC is a daily diary about the current state of the OKC Thunder. Obviously we’re celebrating the big win in a big way.

Wait…this isn’t Views. Are you here for the daily roundup of the best OKC Thunder content? Don’t worry, we’re working on bringing it back under a new name with a rotation of the Thunderous Intentions staff. If you came to Views for my daily takes (and why would you do that?), you’re in luck. It was painful to drop my baby, but my wonderful Co-Expert was finally able to convince me it was for the best.

Let me be completely clear; this won’t be like the Views of old. I’m not going to stick to a concrete layout, nor am I going to give up dropping interesting articles/tweets from time to time. The only thing I can promise is I will be experimenting extensively because Why Not? If you have a suggestion for the post I beg that you hit me up on Twitter.

With that said, let’s start a new era.

If you somehow missed last night’s game I am forcing you to watch the highlights before moving on with this post. I saw the game and I’ve still watched the above video a half dozen times since the final buzzer.

It’s no fluke that the night Russell Westbrook scores 23 points the Thunder dominate the second seed in the West. Westbrook could score 40+ points a night if he really wanted to, but that comes at the expense of the rest of the team. Just look at the recent four-game skid.

MUST READ: Russell Westbrook breaks 2,000 points in a season for the first time

Nobody scored 20 points like Victor Oladipo did last night. The only game the bench had two double-digit scorers like last night was the night starters not named Westbrook combined for 12 points. Did they ever reach 23 team assists during that stretch? Nope, not even 20.

This was genuine, team basketball. Oklahoma City won by double-digits despite Westbrook shooting 33% from the field; they are now 4-11 on the season when he shoots at or below that mark. Although he had an overall great performance (23-13-13) this game wasn’t won by Russ.

Related Story: Taj Gibson holds the key to the Thunder’s season

It was won because of the attacking Oladipo. It was won because Domantas Sabonis came off the bench and played with a fire we haven’t seen all season. It was won because Steven Adams imposed his will down low. And of course the lowkey MVP Andre Roberson deserves props for his defense on Kawhi Leonard.

Basketball is played with five players for a reason. As great as Russ is he simply can’t do it by himself. Tonight he trusted his teammates to help carry the load. And they did.

Is this a turning point? It very well could be. Or it could be the result of a San Antonio team playing on the second night of a back-to-back. I tend to think it’s a combination of both.

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

A couple more quick thoughts

• Taj Gibson in the starting lineup should have happened the moment he stepped foot in Oklahoma City. Not only does it make the starters more complete, it also gives Domas a reality check. The NBA is big-boy basketball; he can’t skate by on talent alone anymore. I think he finally realized that tonight.
• Dougie McThunderBuckets is going to be the x-factor of this team come playoff time. Dude can flat out score from anywhere on the court, and when he’s on it creates spacing this team has been missing all year. Alex Abrines is a great shooter and all but he’s not defensively-ready for the playoffs. McThunderBuckets is just good enough on that end to play 25 minutes a night come playoff time.

I hope you all enjoyed the new Views. Again, I’m open to any and all suggestions going forward. See you tomorrow! (hopefully)