Grades: Thunder outlast Rockets in epic Christmas Day dub

OKC Thunder Player Grades

Starting Lineup

Russ started the first quarter missing his first six attempts from the field. But once he got rolling, the League MVP couldn’t cool down. A 31 point, 11 assist, 6 rebound and 3 steal performance capped off Noah’s first Christmas as he watched his dad outplay the two-time MVP runner-up.

Westbrook was peak Westbrook. The one-on-five fast breaks were aplenty. The crazy, erratic finishes at the rim seemed normal. Oklahoma City is rolling because Westbrook is rolling, and there’s nothing NBA teams can do to stop it at the moment.

The Lowkey MVP, playing with a splint on his left hand, led the charge that contained a recently unstoppable James Harden to 29 points on 7 of 18 shooting. Roberson’s free throw troubles came up once again when Houston employed Hack-a-Dre in the fourth quarter, but he responded by making 2-4 until Billy Donovan subbed him out for Jerami Grant. Roberson has no confidence at the line – that has to change if he wants to be on the court in the Playoffs.

Side note: Are you sensing a trend here? It’s Christmas Day and I’m the Santa Claus of A+’s. While nobody played a perfect game tonight, the total team effort and overall positive impacts from each and every player has me in a fantastic mood.

Besides Paul George proneness to turnovers, he played a fantastic game in his first Christmas Day appearance. George is slowly working into his role as the Thunder’s secondary playmaker and that was evident tonight. He shot 8-15 from the field on a nice balance around the entire court, and he assisted on four OKC made field goals. As always George’s defense was solid – at this point that goes without needing to be mentioned.

This sums up Melo’s night:

The best part about Carmelo’s 8-12 night was that he obviously was feeling himself, but he made the conscious decision to take a backseat and allow Russ and PG to do their damage. Melo’s going to have to tighten up his defensive communications/rotations against Houston’s pick-heavy offense if these two teams meet in the Playoffs. His efforts to change his style of play on the offensive end tell me that will come when the Thunder need it.

We can rest easy tonight Thunder Nation. The world is well-aware that Steven Adams is a better center than Clint Capela. Capela’s numbers look similar to the Big Kiwi’s but a big pat of that has to do with the two differing systems. Adams notched SEVEN offensive rebounds – those second chance opportunities were a big reason why the Thunder ultimately pulled this game.

The big concern from this game is how Billy Donovan wants to utilize Adams in pick & roll coverage. Tonight he had the 24-year old hedge up, but that allowed Capela to roam free to the paint for easy dunks and alley-oops. When the Thunder rotated to guard Capela it left an open three-point shooter in the corner. Luckily they have over a half a season left to experiment.