Russell Westbrook’s Runner-Up Award: Russ’ partner-in-crime
By Chris Hughes
All season Victor Oladipo has arguably been Russell Westbrook’s main man so it feels appropriate the regular season ends with him featured in this column.
The Russell Westbrook’s Runner-up Award hopes to celebrate the little guy – the Robin to Russ’ Batman, this week Victor Oladipo takes his place in the spotlight.
With the regular season coming to a conclusion this week’s edition features the especially relevant games from Sunday-Wednesday. This stretch saw the Oklahoma City Thunder pick up two wins and a single defeat.
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Both of the victories came off of game-winners with only seconds remaining. Furthermore, the defeat came due to the Thunder resting several top players. This however gave extended minutes to the likes of Kyle Singler and Josh Huestis.
Consequently, the resulting games saw the Thunder finish the regular season with a record of 47-35. Most notably this results in only eight fewer wins than the campaign before.
With that in mind, this week’s Russell Westbrook’s Runner-Up Award goes to a man who throughout the season has been Brodie’s number two – Victor Oladipo.
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Victor Oladipo showcases solid week:
First of all, what contributed to Oladipo’s selection for this week’s edition was his performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.
Taj Gibson, Andre Roberson and most importantly Russell Westbrook were all rested for the occasion, leaving the shooting guard who was arguably the leader of the remaining Thunder players, especially with Semaj Christon and Singler starting in the point guard and small forward positions respectively.
Hence, Oladipo played the most minutes of any Oklahoma City Thunder player in 34, and led the side in the main three recorded stats, with 20 points, six assists and nine rebounds. All of those are above his season averages.
All in all, it meant that the shooting guard was responsible for 33 points. Near enough a third of OKC’s eventual 100 scored. Of course, he also won the game with six seconds left to play, converting a jumper from just inside the arc.
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Either side of his game-winner Oladipo was present for Thunder’s two games against the Denver Nuggets. Whilst he didn’t bring his complete A-game to each match-up, he remained solid on defense.
In the game on Sunday, the 24-year-old finished with eight points off below-par shooting, but still ended with a +1 plus/minus differential for his work, which was also displayed through his six defensive rebounds.
In the regular season’s curtain-closer Vic was responsible for ten points, but only Taj Gibson grabbed more as a starter.
What’s more, only Singler played more minutes than the former Orlando man. Dipo shot 4 of 9 from the field and converted a single three-pointer.
If you enjoyed the final Russell Westbrook’s Runner-Up Award of the regular season, then check out Chris Hughes’ Thunderous Intentions profile to view the earlier editions.