OKC Thunder News: Teams weekend resembles Western Movie Title

OKC Thunder in the news for January 29 revisits a weekend where the squad’s actions (and painful moments) resembled a Western Movie Title – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Still reeling from the loss of Andre Roberson the OKC Thunder had no time for mourning. Instead, the club had to refocus their efforts to take on the Philadelphia 76ers and enigmatic super star Joel Embiid.

Despite the brilliance and continuing antics of Joel Embiid the Thunder came away with the win. More importantly, this extends the Thunders’ current win streak to eight in a row and 18 in a row over Philly.

That latter fact is something 76ers head coach Brett Brown might want to show Embiid who apparently feels individual moments out trump victories.

Post game comments all throw a little shade back:

Each of the original starting foursome spoke post game and offered a bit of trolling themselves  Anthony made a ‘process’ comment, Paul George said his dunk on Embiid was payback for Russ. And Westbrook simply stated the facts 2-0 (read: we beat them where it matters). Additionally, Russ was asked why Embiid was less successful in the second half.  Westbrook cited Steven Adams stats. But, allowed a smile to creep across his face as he savored the moment and the question.

Related: Westbrook vs. Embiid – Round 2 of the Shade Show

Carmelo Anthony 25,000 points milestone:

Speaking of individual moments, Carmelo Anthony reached a major marker in the victory over Detroit. There was less emphasis or attention paid regarding Anthony’s accomplishment because the team (for obvious reasons) was focused on the loss of Andre Roberson’s season ending injury.

Anthony becomes the 21st player in NBA history to score 25,000 points. Melo joins two other active members of the list (LeBron James and Dirk Notwitzki).

Congratulations go out from Thunderous Intentions to Carmelo Anthony for this amazing accomplishment.

OKC Offense on fire and so is Westbrook:

Sam Presti will undoubtedly need to make some defensive tweaks and add depth. But one area the OKC Thunder might want to keep close to it’s current state is the offense. As Fred Katz points out the Thunder have the best offense in the NBA since December 17th.

The reason is the OK3 figuring out their chemistry, but much of the offensive surge has to do with Westbrook returning to his MVP form producing numbers just shy of his triple-double 2016-17 average.

Paul George replaces Cousins:

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 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

The other positive news of the weekend is Paul George will be DeMarcus Cousins replacement in the All-Star Game. Like Westbrook he’ll play on Team LeBron.  Commissioner Adam Silver selects all replacements for the game.

Related: Tony Heim – Paul George to replace Cousins

Also of note, with the Raptors win Sunday over the LA Lakers, head coach Dwane Casey and his staff will be running Team LeBron.

Notably, with the change to how the teams are aligned Casey and his crew won’t be coaching Toronto’s All-Star backcourt (DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry) who are both on Team Curry.

This week the OKC Thunder play four games versus the Wizards and Nuggets prior to weekend home matches versus the Pelicans and Lakers.

That wraps up In the news for Monday, January 29. The Thunderous Intentions writing team extend our congratulations to Carmelo Anthony for his accomplishment, Paul George for his All-Star selection and send our heartfelt prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery to Andre Roberson.

Have a great week Thunder Nation and make sure to drop in daily to keep abreast of you OKC Thunder and favorite players.