Player Grades
OKC Thunder Starting Rotation
Russell Westbrook was easily the worst poor defense perpetrator tonight. Too many times did we see him slow to get up the court, late to get a hand up and contest the shot, or fail to even attempt closing out a shooter.`Russ even did that on the very last possession of the game, allowing Gary Harris to get an easy look at the basket after his teammates LOCKED DOWN everybody else. Tonight’s not one of those nights I’m going to give Russ praise for his 21 assists or his fourth quarter resurgence either. He just doesn’t deserve it after how he played on the other end of the floor.
Ferguson left the game after four minutes because of a stomach bug. The fact Oklahoma City actually allowed him to return to the bench annoyed me. If the kids sick, please get him away from the rest of the players.
Did you know that ever since Paul George’s famous remarks he’s averaging 29.2 points per game on 53.9% shooting? George is becoming more and more comfortable as a second-fiddle type option, especially because the Thunder are making it more of a point to feed him when he’s hot. George was Oklahoma City’s main closer in the fourth, a big reason why they were able to come back.
PG ended with a season-high 43 tonight. But because of a less-than-stellar defensive performance (I expect more from him with Andre Roberson out), I simply can’t justify giving him an A.
Carmelo did a really nice job staying out of the way tonight – that’s not a good thing. After cooking on the offensive end to start the game, Melo drifted away and didn’t make much of an impact tonight. We’ve seen his ability to move the ball and make good reads many times this season; I don’t understand why he doesn’t incorporate those skills into his game more.
I’m convinced Nikola Jokic will always be Adams’ toughest matchup not named Joel Embiid. Jokic’s ability to stretch the floor and make plays with his passing game continues to take Adams out of his defensive comfort zone. The same goes for when he gets switched onto point guards. It’s time for Billy Donovan to make a change to the defensive scheme, aka force Russ to fight through those tedious screens. It just doesn’t help the team when Adams is mismatched out to the three-point line for a perfect opportunity to get replayed on social media for years to come.
So why a B-? The Big Kiwi used his size advantage on the offensive end somewhat, but he was more used as a screener to free up George and Westbrook. OKC scored 66 points in the paint in large part because of Adams’ dominance over Denver’s bigs.
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