OKC Thunder player grades: Westbrook firepower beats OKC

Different team, different year but the same hustle that OKC Thunder fans miss.

Oklahoma’s favorite son, Russell Westbrook, returned to the arena he built and filled with adoring fans for 11 years.

He brought the same tenacity and firepower he brought every single night in a Thunder uniform to lead his Washington Wizards to a 20 point victory over OKC, making It their seventh consecutive victory and, in turn, making it the Thunder’s 13th consecutive loss.

Westbrook recorded his 174th career triple-double and is only eight away from passing Oscar Robertson.

How the OKC Thunder lost to Washington:

Much like we have seen in previous games, the OKC Thunder came out in the first half like a winning team. By half-time, they were only down by two, 70-68, but the third quarter is what really decided the outcome of the match.

OKC trailed 85-71 early in the third after some great shooting from Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans. They stayed fighting with some big contributions from Darius Bazley (who had a career-high six steals) and Theo Maledon, but they couldn’t hold on.

The Wizards’ overall better shooting of 56.3 percent from deep and 51.6 percent from the floor was a hefty challenge to compete against. They also outrebounded the Thunder 50-40.

Though the All-Star talents of Westbrook and Beal will always be hard to contain, It’s difficult to fully analyze a game with a team like Oklahoma City who you know may not be playing to their full potential.

There were definitely some moments to celebrate for the Thunder like Aleksej Pokusevski’s block on Beal or a wonderful sequence from Isaiah Roby as he blocked the Wizards’ Daniel Gafford and ran to the other side to lay it up.