Thunder lose fifth straight road game to the Pelicans
OKC Best Reserve
C+. . PF. Oklahoma City Thunder. JERAMI GRANT
The bench was garbage today and its becoming a regular thing. Grant gets a C+ basically by default. If the Thunder are going to use him as their lone big, he has to get more than 1 rebound in 20 minutes. He finished with 7 points (2-5 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-2FT) and 1 rebound in 20 minutes.
Best Opponent
A. . PF. New Orleans Pelicans. ANTHONY DAVIS
After Cousins was ejected, all the offense ran through Davis. Big front courts will pose massive issues for the Thunder as long as they refuse to pick up another big man. Davis earned his keep tonight as he played like the All Star he is. He had virtually anything he wanted as Grant and Melo were absolutely no match for him. He finished with 36 points (8-16 FG, 13-16FT) and 15 rebounds in 45 minutes.
More from Thunderous Intentions
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- 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
Final Thoughts
I am tired of watching the same thing happen. The Thunder lost another rebounding battle and the Pelicans scored a whopping 58 points in the paint. Oklahoma City needs another big man fast. It also has become apparent that Melo needs to move back to the 3 and play power forward part time. He simply doesn’t have the athleticism and ability to bang on the block.
A line-up of Westbrook-PG-Melo-Patterson and Adams needs some time. Playing Felton at the 2 has also become an issue as he and Russ can’t defend in the current “switch all” defense. Crunch time is painful to watch as noone is taking over.
I almost want the Russ of last year to comeback. At least then, we were closing games.