Thunder Player Grades: Reserves inspired effort vaults OKC into 5th

Player Grades

OKC Starting Rotation:

21 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers.

Plus / Minus Differential: plus +1

Field Goals: 7 of 15, Three pointers: 0 of 1, Free Throws: 7 of 11

I counted three wide open players Westbrook missed (Brewer, Anthony and Brewer again) early in the contest. This spoke to Westbrook being dialed in and aggressive, but it also pointed to his lack of court vision or lack of desire to make the best play. Subsequently when Russ exited the game for rest in the first quarter he had two points and two turnovers.

Fortunately, when Westbrook returned to the court in the second frame he had seemingly figured out his faux pas and quickly fed Abrines for a trey and delivered a feathery pass to Josh Huestis in the pick and roll for a dunk to give the Thunder a nine point lead.

Recalling the egregious (read – dirty) Patrick Beverley shot on Russ in the playoffs which resulted in a torn MCL I’m sure I wasn’t the only one holding my breath when Davis Bertans inadvertently fouled Russ sending him to the floor as he brought the ball past half court preparing to call a timeout.  Fortunately Westbrook was okay.

One of the craziest stats you’ll see regarding Westbrook is the oncourt point differential (PD). When he’s on the court the PD is plus +284 and when he sits its minus -86.

Part of that ties to the bench, but it also speaks to the lack of offense the team has in place when he sits. This includes minutes when the entire starting unit is still on court as well as minutes Paul George is on with four reserves.

Westbrook gets his grade for a couple of reasons – his leadership down the stretch when the Spurs pulled close, his triple double and his help defense (often on Aldridge). He loses the plus grade for taking a quarter to calm down and do what was necessary to win.