The Russell Westbrook runner-up award: A week of comebacks
By Chris Hughes
The Russell Westbrook Runner-up Award hopes to celebrate the little guy – the Robin to Russ’ Batman.
The Thunder have had a turbulent four games since last Saturday, including a loss to James Harden’s Houston Rockets. However since the defeat to the sharp-shooting side Oklahoma City have produced two stellar comebacks in as many games, grabbing back-to-back W’s in the process. We don’t need to talk about what happened against San Antonio last night.
When it came to points there was only one man in the spotlight – Russell Westbrook himself. OKC’s star man contributed over 80 of the Thunder’s points in the win against the Orlando Magic, thanks to 57 points and another 11 assists.
Against the Dallas Mavericks it was the same story once again, with the point guard scoring 37 points on top of another ten assists. This equated to over half of the Thunder’s 92 points for the game.
With that in mind, this week’s Russell Westbrook’s Runner-Up Award goes to a player whose performance went beyond your standard box-score – Jerami Grant.
The 23-year-old was the unsung hero of the comeback win against Orlando; this was a large part in his selection. Ironically, Grant’s recent performances points-wise have been below his season averages, with just 3.4 from his last five outings in comparison to 5.4 for the season.
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However the former Philadelphia 76ers man proved his athleticism and versatility this week, beginning against Houston.
Grant scored just three points from 16 minutes of play, but ended as the only Thunder player to have finished with a positive plus/minus, with +9. In comparison Doug McDermott and starting three Andre Roberson finished with -8 each respectively.
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Statistically, Jerami’s performance against the Mavericks was his worst of the three games, despite scoring four points.
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The reason was because Grant attempted – and failed – two three-pointers over the course of the game. He still produced two rebounds and once again avoided making a turnover.
The head-turning performance however came against Orlando, where the Oregon native produced a mammoth +30 plus/minus from just 19 minutes of play. His work as both a small forward and as a stretch power forward worked wonders in denying the smaller and athletic Magic lineup from peeling ahead.
Billy Donovan‘s decision to use Grant in what is normally – at least size wise – a bigger role ended up being an act of magic. Orlando eventually sunk with the 23-year-old picking up two rebounds and three assists for his work too. As before, he also avoided recording a turnover.
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