Thunderous Intentions
Fansided

Thunder lose fifth straight road game to the Pelicans

By Lawrence George

NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 20: Russell Westbrook
NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 20: Russell Westbrook /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – NOVEMBER 20: Paul George #13 of the OKC Thunder and E’Twaun Moore #55 of the New Orleans Pelicans scramble for a loose ball during the first half at the Smoothie King Center on November 20, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – NOVEMBER 20: Paul George #13 of the OKC Thunder and E’Twaun Moore #55 of the New Orleans Pelicans scramble for a loose ball during the first half at the Smoothie King Center on November 20, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

Player Grades

OKC Starting Rotation

. PG. Oklahoma City Thunder. RUSSELL WESTBROOK. B-

Westbrook continues to play terribly. While Russ finished with 22 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists, he did it on the back of another 6-19 shooting night. He has to get back in transition because the offense is rubbish in half court. I can’t knock his hustle, but when the chips are down he needs to step up. He is the leader of this team and its about time he starts playing like it.

PAUL GEORGE. A-. . SF. Oklahoma City Thunder

I am tired of PG being so passive. A 26 point (9-17 FG, 6-10 3PT, 2-2 FT), 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assist night is good on paper but it has to translate. He needs to run the offense more and demand the ball. He was easily the best of the OK3 tonight but he only gets an A- because he hasn’t shown any guts in clutch time. Tell Russ to get out of the way when you’re on. Get out there and handle your business PG!

Oklahoma City Thunder. CARMELO ANTHONY. B. . PF

Playing Melo at the 4 has started to become a real issue. He is nice as a scorer but he doesn’t possess the athleticism to bang with bigger 4’s. Davis ate him alive on the block. Anthony showed some grit on the boards though and tried his best against one of the leagues elite bigs. He finished with 19 points (7-19 FG, 2-9 3PT, 3-4 FT) and 9 rebounds on another tough shooting night.

A. . C. Oklahoma City Thunder. STEVEN ADAMS

Adams continues to be the Thunder’s most consistent player every single night. Early foul trouble stunted his night but he continues to dominate opponents inside. OKC need to use him more if they are going to win games. Oklahoma City needs more than 3 rebounds out the Big Kiwi, but that is the result of pounding with two elite bigs down low. He finished with 15 points (7-9 FG, 1-2 FT) and 3 rebounds in 26 minutes.

C+. . SG. Oklahoma City Thunder. ANDRE ROBERSON

I actually don’t think Dre was that bad tonight. He never really contributes too much offensively but his defense was sound. Most fans will continue to call him out due to his lack of offense, but what fans don’t see is the work he does off the ball. He was caught 5 or 6 times with Davis in the post and Davis scored once. That is the type of workmanship OKC are missing but they need to use him in motion. He finished with 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block in 28 minutes.

Head Coach. Oklahoma City Thunder. BILLY DONOVAN. C.

This is the first time I am mentioning the coach in player grades, but I feel like it needs to be addressed. The biggest problem I have at the moment is rotations. Donovan has shown no flexibility with rotations to date. Why has Patrick Patterson not played with the starters? How come we haven’t seen PG slide to the 2, Melo to the 3 and 2-Pat to the 4?

His time-outs were much better tonight but the offense is still terrible. Everyone knows Russ has a sweet spot for minutes. Once he exceeds them, he plays terribly. Coach Donovan needs to smarten up and make some changes.

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