3 Takeaways after OKC Thunder ride Russell Westbrook’s big night to break two-game skid
By Noah Schulte
Real wing depth
The Thunder aren’t fortunate enough to play the Suns every night, but it seems like the Thunder have real depth on the wings for the first time in an age. With Paul George, Alex Abrines out and Terrance Ferguson departing after just seven minutes, OKC leaned heavily on Hamidou Diallo and Abdel Nader to pick up the slack. The two combined for 24 points with Nader putting up a career-high 18 points on 13 shots.
Diallo also posted a highlight of his own. Off a missed Phoenix 3-pointer, Russ gets the ball in transition and hits a flying Diallo for a rim-rocking one-handed hammer.
They’ve had massive issues on the wings since the dawn of time and it seems like this could finally be the year that changes. Diallo’s production was already a big surprise this season, but no one saw Nader playing the way he has over the last two games with tonight serving as the best example.
Interestingly, coach Donovan elected not to play Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot in favor of the Egyptian. The former first-round pick has hardly seen the court in recent times which begs the question – what is his role moving forward?