The Oklahoma City Thunder blew out the Chicago Bulls 101-69 Saturday night. The Thunder controlled the game from the tip and earned their third win of the season. The Bulls are one of the worst teams in the NBA, but it was good for the Thunder starters to sit the majority of the fourth quarter on the second night of a back-to-back. Here are your five observations after tonight’s dominating performance from the Thunder.
1. Russell Westbrook’s quest of recording a triple-double against every NBA team has been completed. Westbrook finally earned a triple-double against the Bulls for the first time in his career. In just 28 game minutes, Russ scored 12 points, dished out 13 assists and grabbed 11 rebounds. That’s a pretty solid night at the office for Westbrook. Oh, and Russ only had two turnovers too. Westbrook is averaging the most turnovers per game in all of the NBA. It’s not as bad because he is averaging the most assists per game, but the high turnover numbers will need to come down as the season comes along. Overall, another win and another triple-double for the MVP.
2. Paul George put together another good shooting night, scoring 20 points on 8-15 shooting. George got off to a hot shooting night, connecting on four of his five three points attempts. It was against the hapless Bulls, but it’s nice to see PG settling in with the Thunder on the offensive end. George did bring down five rebounds, but he was excellent gathering four steals while continuing to find ways to be a nuisance in the passing lanes. It seems like PG is becoming more comfortable on the floor with the Thunder on both sides of the ball.
3. Raymond Felton continues his strong play in the early part of the season. He’s been huge with the second unit and today he scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds. One thing that is underrated about Felton’s game is his ability to play the off guard spot alongside Russ. Felton last played with Chris Paul with the Clippers and they were able to play portions of the game together. And before his time in LA, Felton played in Dallas where he played in many multi point guard lineups. Felton has also been excellent shooting the three this season, shooting 54-percent from behind the arc. Tonight, Felton connected on two of his four three point attempts. The addition of Felton will be overlooked next to the trades for George and Carmelo Anthony, but Felton has been a really good pickup for the Thunder.
4. The Thunder defense completely overwhelmed the Bulls tonight. OKC held Chicago to just 69 points and the Bulls shot an atrocious 28-percent from the field. The Thunder gathered 16 steals and forced the Bulls into 19 turnovers. Again, the Bulls might be the worst team in the NBA. But after a poor defensive night last night in Minnesota, it was a nice confidence booster for the Thunder to come out and defend at a high level on the second night of a back-to-back.
5. The Bulls are even worse than I thought. I know that this doesn’t really have anything to do with the Thunder, but it was painful to see just how terrible the Bulls are. And that actually helped the Thunder in the Carmelo Anthony trade. Somehow the Thunder acquired the Bulls upcoming second round draft pick in the Taj Gibson-Doug McDermott trade, which will more than likely end up being the first pick of the second round. And, of course, the Thunder used that pick in the Melo trade. So, thanks Bulls for sucking so bad. The Bulls could probably use that pick more than they’ll need Cam Payne in the future.
The Thunder will be back in action Tuesday night in Milwaukee to face the Bucks to wrap up this road trip. Tip time will be 7 p.m. inside the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
