OKC Thunder player grades – start east road trip with oust of Detroit
Player Grades
B-. . PG. Oklahoma City Thunder. RUSSELL WESTBROOK
Anytime the Russell Westbrook faces Reggie Jackson it’s bound to offer something exciting. After all the bad blood between the two is well documented. But, add in Zaza Pachulia to the mix and you’ve got the material for a great Jerry Springer show!
Early on Westbrook looked like he might lose sight of the plan when he launched one too many deep balls for my liking but dialed it back in (shot 2 for 7 from deep). And, he did what was required — which was to repeatedly run the pick and roll or dribble hand off with Steven Adams whom the Pistons had literally no answer for.
“Just beautiful basketball...”@RealStevenAdams leads OKC with 14 at halftime. pic.twitter.com/E1u8POrZRz
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 4, 2018
On a whole, it wasn’t a “typical” Westbrook performance, but he led the way and capitalized on the team’s advantages. It felt a little like he was fighting his demons (Zaza/Reggie) for a while — but the good news is he was able to overcome that for the better of the team.
I had to giggle early on when Billy Donovan took Russell Westbrook out of the game the minute Zaza Pachulia checked in? The pair did end sharing the court later on, but it was humorous at the moment.
Stat line: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and FIVE turnovers (combined with those ill-advised treys and forced passes he gets dinged in my grade)in 27 minutes.