3 Takeaways after OKC Thunder ride Russell Westbrook’s big night to break two-game skid

Boosting confidence

Aside from the obvious benefits of Russ absolutely decimating a terrible Phoenix Suns outfit, this game was a huge confidence builder for the Brodie. A significant portion of the coverage around the Thunder has been about Westbrook’s shooting. Coming into tonight’s game, Russ was throwing bricks up at a phenomenal rate shooting 35.9 percent from the field, 28 percent from three and 57.4 percent from the line in his last 10 games. After such a rough stretch of games, it usually helps to beat up on a team like the Suns.

And wow, did he beat up on them.

The Brodie returned to 2016-17 MVP form leading the Thunder with 40 points. As I alluded to earlier, Russ was remarkably efficient shooting 58.6 percent from the field (17-29) including 42.8 percent from three (3-7).

I haven’t seen Russ thoroughly dismantle a team like this in quite some time and it was nice to see him return to his aggressive form. His defensive effort was sporadic at times and he took some characteristically bad shots, but he was such a dominant scorer that it didn’t matter.

Whether or not this is the turning point in his season remains to be seen but it’s great to see him at least finish at the bucket consistently.