Russell's Streak Is Over But He Still Found A Way
By A. Suave Francisco
The Boston Celtics have always been a tough out for the Thunder. Always a team that plays with a ton of grit on the defensive end of the ball. Despite Russell Westbrook not getting a triple-double, ending his seven-game streak, he still found a way to push his teammates to a 99-96 win even in the absence of Victor Oladipo.
Everyone knows about the rivalry between Russell and Marcus Smart. For those who don't, Smart's defense held Russell's offensive game down last season, resulting in a loss and a very hostile post-game interview in the Thunder locker room.
Sunday night was slightly different. Russell Westbrook found a way to score 37 points in regulation on 14-of-36 shooting and added 12 rebounds and 6 assists to that. Minus a little shoving match under OKC's basket in the second quarter between Westbrook and Smart, nothing seemed to get into Westbrook's head. His game wasn't affected much at all.
"Honestly I'm just happy we won tonight, man, that's the most important thing. You know, as a player I just try to look forward and maybe at the end of the season I can talk about it, but as of right now my job is to look forward and get ready for Portland and try to win that game."
In Victor Oladipo's absence, Russell had limited help with just Steven Adams and Enes Kanter being his only real help on the offensive end. Adams finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds and Kanter added 14 points and 6 rebounds. Other than that, there wasn't much offensive production at all. Semaj Christon had a pretty good game, finishing with 9 points on 3-for-3 shooting, but it would have been nice to see him get more shots.
This game was in no way pretty for Oklahoma City, shooting just 14.3 percent from three and 51.9 percent from free throw but due to 49.4 percent overall shooting, this team found a way to knock the Celtics off.
Victor Oladipo presumably being out for an extended period of time and definitely for the next two games against the Portland Trailblazers and Utah Jazz presents a lot of skepticism and worry. Two offensively stout teams the Thunder are about to face, on the road. Someone will have to step up in place of Oladipo. That person could be Anthony morrow, Jerami Grant, maybe Christon but it would be nice to see a starter step up. Domantas Sabonis would be the immediate guy that you think about.
Nevertheless, OKC improves to (15-9) on the season and sixth in the Western Conference, trailed by their next two opponents. The Trailblazers are currently eighth in the league at (12-13) and The Jazz are seventh at (15-10).