By Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder take down the San Antonio Spurs 104-94 in Oklahoma City on Saturday night. The Thunder lead this game from start to finish in an impressive win over the Spurs. OKC’s defense was stout throughout and the Thunder were able to ride that to victory. The win was a crucial one, because the Thunder jumped from 7th in the Western Conference standings to 5th. The Thunder also hold a two games to one lead over the Spurs in the season series, with the fourth game being played on March 29th in San Antonio. It was a crucial game for the Thunder to win and a game they should have won. OKC took care of business, something that has been an issue for this team this season. Here are tonight’s five observations from OKC’s win.
1. 50 from the BenchÂ
The Thunder’s bench has been an asset the past couple of weeks. Tonight, I was worried the Thunder’s second unit would be overwhelmed with San Antonio’s. The Spurs trot out a solid unit of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Rudy Gay. An old but solid bench unit. However, OKC’s bench came to play, scoring a season high 50 combined points. Jerami Grant lead the way, scoring 15 points on 5-5 shooting and he hit his only three point attempt. Alex Abrines came in firing away, scoring 11 points and hitting 3-4 from behind the arc. Patrick Patterson scored 10 points, shooting 4-7 from the floor and 2-4 from three. Nick Collison got some run, scoring 7 points, much to the crowds delight. Josh Huestis played well, scoring five points. Somehow the second group did all this and the leader of the group, Raymond Felton, scored just 2 points. An impressive lift from the bench unit tonight from OKC.
2. PG & Melo Combine for 13 points
It was a good thing the bench mob played the way they did, because Melo and PG did not shoot well. I thought PG played well on defense. He had a steal and two blocked shots and grabbed 10 rebounds, but he really struggled with his jump shot. PG scored just 11 points on a miserable 4-16 shooting, including 1-8 from three. He at least dished out five assists, but he did have four turnovers. Melo had a really bad night as well. Melo scored two points on 1-8 shooting and 0-3 from three. His only points came off an alley-oop dunk from Russell Westbrook. The duo combined to shoot 5-24 from the field and 1-11 from three. Yikes. Luckily the bench came to play.
3. 19th Triple Double of the Year
Russell Westbrook had himself a game. 21 points on 7-15 shooting. Yes, he did shoot a three. It was just one. And, yes, he missed. But Russ brought down 12 rebounds, dished out 10 assists (he did have five turnovers) and did a nice job of running the offense. Russ even played some defense, which is an upgrade from his zero defense that he will deploy from time to time. He played a really nice game.
4. Steven Adams Injured Ankle
So, Steven Adams went down with an ankle sprain at the 10:32 mark of the 3rd quarter. He didn’t return. Adams is an irreplaceable part to the Thunder team. If he is down for any significant amount of time, the Thunder’s playoff hopes could be in serious jeopardy. However, I did see him briefly walk out of the locker room. He didn’t wear a protective boot or anything. He typically walks with a limp after games anyways, but I couldn’t tell if he was walking more gingerly than usual. This will be something to watch. OKC has an off day tomorrow, so we’ll learn of Adams availability for the Kings game about an hour before tipoff on Monday.
5. Corey Brewer in double-figures again
Brewer scored 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Brewer did it on 4-7 shooting and hit both his three point attempts. Both were from the corner. I’m not sure the shooting is going to hold up. In fact, I was be really surprised if that continues. But, he was great on defense and his ability to run the floor and make good offensive cuts really impacts the team. That in and of itself is beneficial to the team, even if the scoring drops out. However, the scoring is an added bonus since PG is really struggling to shoot effectively.
The Thunder improve their record to 39-29 on the season and will be back in action on Monday night hosting the Sacramento Kings. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Peake.
