OKC Thunder Film Room: Game 1 ‘Can play Kanter’ arrives, Lillard feasts, room to improve

Dame time.

The two starting Point Guards were clearly the two best players on the floor. However, tonight was Damian Lillard‘s night.

I mean, just looked at the first shot he took tonight.

That was not his only long three. I mean look at this cold blooded, long range dagger at the end of the game.

Dame did not just do it from distance, he had some beautiful finishes at the rim, including this beauty early in the game when he was totally locked in.

Dame did not just score, he made some beautiful passes, finding the soft spot in the defense, or just realizing there are too many blue jerseys around me, someone has to be open.

Damian Lillard finished with a team, and game high 30 points, with four rebounds and as many assists to go along with his three steals. Lillard was a +11 for the contest but did turn the ball over six times. OKC just had no match for his five made 3-pointers which is tied for as many as the entire OKC Thunder team hit.

This Damian Lillard performance was not an outlier, as many things in this particular game will likely prove to be, he had a phenomenal game, and this is something we can expect the entire series.

Russell Westbrook was really good tonight, guys.

The walking triple-double grabbed another one tonight posting 24 points on 47 percent shooting from the floor but missing all four threes he attempted.

Westbrook grabbed ten rebounds, all of which were defensive, ten assists, but did pick up four fouls.

One encouraging sign from this game for Russell Westbrook was the fact the superstar point guard went eight-for-eight from the free throw line.

The best part about tonight for Russell Westbrook was not his wonderful passes, or his ability to pick apart Enes Kanter at will (when the team would actually attack him), but the fact that he flashed his speed again. He looked like Russell Westbrook of old, something we have not seen much of this regular season, and something Ricky Rubio did a good job taking away last postseason.

I mean, just look at this speed burst in the open floor and finish.

Russell Westbrook took this game over, and sometimes that is a bad thing, as any OKC Thunder fan knows. Sometimes that means he is pressing, playing bad and out of control. That was not the case tonight. Outside of the foul trouble and one poor shot selection on one possession, this was as close to MVP Russell Westbrook as we have seen.

Russell Westbrook controlled the game and was the only reason why this game was winnable for OKC down the stretch.

If Paul George was able to have even an average game, the OKC Thunder walk out of the game one fire with a win thanks entirely to Russell Westbrook.