There’s a new hero in Oklahoma City and his name is Jerami Grant. Without Jerami we wouldn’t be celebrating a fourth straight OKC Thunder victory.
I’ll take it. I’m definitely not a happy with Oklahoma City’s performance last night, but a win is a win is a win at this time of the year. I’ll concede a few things on their behalf:
- Steven Adams was out, leaving Dakari Johnson as the only true center on the roster.
- It was the second night of a back-to-back (on the road) and the third game in four nights.
- Paul George left the game in the third quarter with a groin injury.
Depending on the severity of George’s injury, this season could be on the brink of collapse. Or it could be nothing. Both George and Adams very well could return on Friday – a defiant win against Toronto would put us right back into an optimistic mindset.
Such is life as an OKC Thunder fan in 2018. Now let’s get positive.
Jerami Grant fuels second half rally again
If you’re an avid Thunderous Intentions reader, you’ve already read Gideon Lim’s film room from Monday night’s game in which he details why Jerami Grant is the x-factor for this team. If you haven’t, I highly suggest you following the blue link above.
For the sake of today’s ITN we’re going to look at a different piece from an even more recent Grant performance. As Erik Horne details in his Thunder Journal, Grant was magnificent Tuesday night. He flashed his versatility on both ends of the floor – charges, multiple three-pointers and a couple dunks were all apart of his highlight reel.
Oklahoma City needed somebody to step up in Andre Roberson’s absence. It appears that player is jerami Grant.
"Grant responded in a huge way, scoring 15 of his 20 points in the second half to go with five rebounds and two drawn charges, taking his tally to 17 on the season."
Oh yeah, Russell Westbrook did something kinda cool as well
Did you really think I was going to forget about Russ’ historic accomplishment? Russ joined an elite company (Oscar, Magic, Kidd) last night as only the fourth player in NBA history to record 100 triple-doubles.
Word to the Russ/Thunder haters – this isn’t more important than wins. But it’s also pretty cool to watch your superstar join a coveted group of legends.
Also, 82-18.
https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/973737818659856384
Predicting the final Western Conference Standings
And now I’ll wrap this up with the perfect transition to keep you away from whatever responsibilities you might be procrastinating on. We’re now stepping away from the past and looking to the future:
My co-expert Tamberlyn Richardson looked at the remaining schedules of every team in the Western Conference Playoff hunt. What resulted was 4,000 words detailing everything you need to know about each contender, culminating in her final prediction. Check it out, then tweet at her and our Twitter account with your own thoughts.
"Of the teams in this contentious west playoff seeds battle the OKC Thunder own tie breaks over the Jazz and Clippers. San Antonio is the only undecided series, but the worst OKC can do is tie."
That’s it for today’s issue of Thunder in the News! We’ll have all the Oklahoma City content you need to keep you occupied over the next couple of off days. All you have to do is bookmark Thunderous Intentions and we’ll be one click away 😉