By A. Suave Francisco

Numerous questions surrounded this Oklahoma City Thunder team following their game against the Phoenix Suns on Friday night. Most everyone wonders who on this team other than one or two guys will take the load off Westbrook on the offensive end. Tonight, that question was answered. And hopefully permanently. The Thunder improved to (3-0) on the season after defeating the Lakers 113-96.

This team's problem has always been not finishing games well, now the narrative is completely opposite: Their effort is lackluster in the early stages of the game, and progressively improves as the game goes on. The Lakers got off to a hot, 16-8 start and it looked like OKC would underachieve against a subpar opponent once again. That wasn't the case, in less than two minutes, OKC erased that deficit and took the lead following a few strong defensive possessions. They ended the first quarter ahead, 30-24.

Talking about Russell Westbrook getting another triple-double will get excessive this season because it's likely that he will average one. For the record, yes, he did it again. For the 39th time to be exact. 33 points, 16 assists, and 12 rebounds. However, what impressed me the most, was his supporting cast. This is by far the most complete offensive performance this team has orchestrated thus far. Players like Victor Oladipo, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Andre Roberson and Anthony Morrow helped out significantly. This is an effort we will have to see every game for this team to make a run in a tough Western Conference.

Oladipo ended the game with 20 points, with the highest plus/minus on the team at +24. Adams scored 14 points and pulled down 12 rebounds on an efficient 50 percent shooting night. Roberson will probably never be an offensive threat, but he's become a premier defender in the league. All he's needed for on the offensive end is to contribute. Score a few baskets and make the defense respect you. He did that against the Lakers with 8 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Last but not least, Anthony Morrow, who needs to see more of the court and needs the ball in his hand. He finished with 6 points after only playing 6 minutes. The baskets he hit helped fuel OKC's big run in the second quarter to take a convincing or somewhat "comfortable" lead. Very impressive for a guy that made his season debut in this game.

Something else that benefitted the Thunder today and also will in the future is distributing minutes, and not putting too much on the back of Westbrook. Oladipo played 38 of the 48 possible minutes, which was the most on the team. Russell played 33.

Things are looking up for the Thunder as they remain perfect on the season. It's also great that they are finding an offensive identity, especially considering the back-to-back games they have on the road this week. Wednesday they play the Los Angeles Clippers and Thursday, the highly anticipated game against Kevin Durant's new team, the Golden State Warriors.

OKC's Supporting Cast Helps Westbrook For The Convincing Win Over L.A.