OKC Thunder fail to show themselves losing to the Washington Wizards 116-98 at Chesapeake Arena
OKC Thunder Best Reserve:
B. . SF. Oklahoma City Thunder. ABDEL NADER
The bench wasn’t particularly great so the bench award goes to Abdel Nader who posted nine points on 4-7 shooting and 1-1 free throws. The Egyptian struggled on defense but was efficient shooting the rock, something the Thunder struggle to do consistently.
Best Opponent:
Washington Wizards. OTTO PORTER JR.. A+. . SF
Otto Porter Jr. had a fantastic game torching OKC for 20 points (7-17 shooting, 4-6 from three, 2-2 free throws), six rebounds, five assists and three blocks in 27 minutes.
Porter absolutely pounded the Thunder’s second unit and proved that he’s not a bench piece. It remains to be seen if he’s donning the Wizard colors by the deadline but his performance tonight undoubtedly propelled Washington to the win.
Final Thoughts
The Thunder took the night off defensively and missed a fantastic chance to move 13 games above 500. Oklahoma City were flat all game long, likely suffering from the effects of the hard-fought win over Portland two nights ago. While its defense got torched tonight, it can be seen as nothing more than an aberration for a team thats leaned heavily on that end this season.
Offensively, the Thunder have some issues. PG13 and Russell Westbrook have reverted back to
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bad habits of playing in isolation and tonight was a classic example of what happens when the two stars don’t make shots. Additionally, role players are finding themselves out of rhythm. The Thunder must get back to moving the ball and operating in transition.
One other issue is rotations. Billy D needs to alter his rotations as his preference of playing his starters a bulk of the third quarter has struggled in three of the Thunder’s last five games. Westbrook cannot play 12 straight minutes with consistency and playing too long often hurts the team overall. Donovan needs to find a better rotation to get more Nerlens Noel-Westbrook time on court together.
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For the full box score visit ESPN and check back tomorrow for 5 takeaways.