Behind Russell Westbrook’s big night, TI presents three takeaways after the OKC Thunder break a two-game skid defeating the Phoenix Suns on the road 118-102.
The OKC Thunder were always supposed to win tonight because they were, after all, playing the Phoenix Suns. While Phoenix is one of the worst teams in the league (9-27 record), it’s important to remember they are still an NBA team and OKC needed to show up to beat them.
Thankfully for Oklahoma City fans everywhere, they did.
Everyone across the board seemed to have given their all tonight, but none more than Russell Westbrook who posted 40 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, on an efficient 17-29 from the field, 3-7 from three, and 3-6 from the stripe. The Brodie was in attack mode right from the outset and dominated every player Phoenix threw at him.
In what has become a universal celebration in the league, Russ cradled rookie De’Anthony Melton to sleep.
This was a tremendous return to form for Westbrook whose struggles have been well documented. The Thunder finished with five players double figures including a career night for Abdel Nader who posted 18 points on 7-13 from the field and 2-4 from three.
This win, though expected, is still pretty big for the Thunder. In the past with this kind of game, the Thunder would give subpar effort and check out for long stretches of the game before ultimately losing in a disappointing way. It’s a sign of growth for everyone involved that they not only tried until the end, but seemed to care about the contest from the jump.
Aside from just those takeaways, however, there are a few important things that happened in this game that should–hopefully–carry over for the rest of the season.