By: Michael Doutey

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Houston Rockets 112-107 on Christmas Day inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Thunder were able to make key shots on offense and make key stops on the defensive end in clutch time. The Thunder now improve to 19-15 on the season, have won five straight game and have won 11 of their last 14. The Thunder have some of the worst losses in the NBA to teams like Charlotte, Dallas, Brooklyn, Sacramento and Orlando. But now they have wins over the best two teams in the NBA in Golden State and Houston. Sure, Chris Paul didn’t play in today’s game, so it isn’t a true test showing exactly where OKC is. But it is still a big win over an excellent team where OKC out executed the Rockets on both ends of the floor down the stretch. That is huge for a team who has truly struggled in these situations early in this season. OKC is slowly figuring things out and today is proof of just that. Here are my five biggest takeaways from tonight’s big Thunder win.

1. Roberson’s 4th Quarter Defense

The Thunder and Rockets were tied up at 88 going into the fourth quarter. And with no Chris Paul, we knew that James Harden was going to have the ball in his hands down the stretch. Andre Roberson, who played great defense all game long, saved his best for the last quarter. Dre hounded Harden the whole quarter. There was no breathing room for James as soon as he crossed half court. I am very close to saying that Dre’s defense in crunch time was the best stretch of defense Dre has played in his career. It was that good. His stifling defense has highlighted by a block on a Harden three point attempt that lead to Robserson himself scoring on the fast break which essentially sealed tonight’s victory. I’m sure many fans weren’t thrilled that OKC decided to pay Andre $10 million a year over the next three seasons. I’m sure many fans were asking that question again as Houston pulled the hack-a-Dre strategy just like they did last playoffs. As Dre went 2-4 from the line and had to come out of the game, it was hard to defend that contract. But remember this sequence when you wonder why OKC pays Dre what they pay him. Remember the defensive clamps Dre put on Harden, who went 2-5 from the field and 0-2 from three for four points in the fourth quarter.

2. Russ Slow Shooting Start

Russ had one of his worst shooting starts to a game in a long while. Russ tried to get his pull up jumper working early but he couldn’t get anything to drop. Russ started the game 0-6 from the field and at one point was 2-12 from the floor. But Russ turned it around in the second half, shooting 8-10. Overall Russ scored 31 points on 12-24 shooting. It is insane how one half Russ can be completely off with his shot and then after halftime he is money. If Russ didn’t get his shot figured out at halftime then OKC doesn’t win this game.

3. Vintage Melo

This was a throwback game for Melo. He was feeling it early. Russ found him for some easy looks and they went down for Melo. He got in a rhythm early and he was able to get good looks to go down the rest of the game. Melo finished with 20 points on 8-12 shooting and 2-4 from three. Melo did take a few not so ideal shots. He took a couple highly contested shots and made them. And I think since he was able to get a few clean looks to go down early that it really helped him keep going the rest of the game. Maybe that will be more of an emphasis going forward for OKC. Maybe they will look to establish Melo in the first quarter to get him in rhythm for the rest of the game.

4. Paul George’s Solid Night

This was PG’s first Christmas Day game of his career and he enjoyed being apart of the days festivities. But he really enjoyed the win. And he should. His fingerprints are all over this game. He scored 24 points on 8-15 shooting, including 4-7 from three. He grabbed five rebounds and dished four assists. He had one steal to go with all that. He also had five turnovers, really the only downside of the night for PG. He did a little of everything for this team and had a solid fourth quarter. PG scored seven points in the fourth, hit some key free throws and played excellent defense. He was a big reason for tonight’s win.

5. Figuring Things Out

When we are in something everyday it can be hard to clearly see what is going on in front of us. For fans and media members alike, the start of the Thunder’s season was rocky at best. But OKC now finds themselves winners of five straight game and have won 11 of their last 14 ball games. There have been times when I’ve sat back and thought, “this isn’t going to work, is it?” I really thought that after their blowout loss to Charlotte. But this is a great reminder that patience has be used in an NBA season. It is a marathon not a sprint. As the Thunder are starting to iron things out, keep this in mind when the Thunder runs into more adversity that will inevitably surface over a long NBA season.

And that’s why we needed to give OKC to until Xmas before the 🚨 were sounded. It’s a long season and OKC is starting to find their groove (plus chemistry).

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) December 26, 2017

The Thunder will be back in action on Wednesday night when they take on the Toronto Raptors. Tip time will be 7 p.m. inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.