The Oklahoma City Thunder have a knack for the dramatic. #WhyNot get your first win against Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Lakers? The Thunder completed a 26-point comeback to win this one 123-115.
- We’ve always been Russell Westbrook fans here in Boomtown. Always will be.
- Personally, he’s probably my favorite player of all time. I have no shame in admitting that.
- What he has done as an individual and for Oklahoma City is magical. The chaos that is being a Westbrook fan is more stressful than it should be, but hey. We love it.
- I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to see him ejected at the end of this one. (we’ll get to that)
- Let’s talk about everyone else first…
- Josh Giddey’s playmaking is incredible. Not just for a rookie, but for such a young rookie.
- Giddey tonight: 18 points (7-13), 10 assists
- Seriously… Not many 19-year-olds can start in the NBA. Even fewer can make the passes this kid makes.
- Hey, how about LeBron skipping another game in Oklahoma City?! What’s up with that?
- Incredible game from the Thunder fans. They have every reason not to show up, but they did tonight. Not only that, they were loud.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tonight: 27 points (7-19), 9 rebounds, 5 assists.
- One of the biggest things that separates the GOOD and the GREAT players in this league is making shots when they count. It really feels like Shai is steadily growing in that area of being a clutch player that can hit the important ones.
- Okay… Let’s talk about the best part of this game.
- HOT TAKE: Everyone is in the right here.
- First of all, Darius Bazley AB-SO-LUTELY has to dunk this ball. The Thunder haven’t won a game yet. The Thunder are getting their first win against Russ and the Lakers. Bazley himself has had struggles with his game. He. Had. To. Dunk. This.
- And it was awesome.
- You know what else was awesome? Russ playing the villain.
- The Lakers are the old guard who are here to go win a title through all the jokes about their age. Westbrook is back in OKC and isn’t going to be punked by any winless teenagers.
- Russell ABSOLUTELY has to get in Bazley’s face about this.
- Lu Dort is awesome for stepping in here. I secretly wished for a Russ vs. Dort dust-up tonight. I just wanted to see how everyone would react.
- Bazley is INCREDIBLE for COMPLETELY no-selling Russell here. Just ignored him. Darius hit the mute button on Russ and acted like he needed to get back on defense… Oblivious to the technical and ejection going on right in front of him.
- This was great. Thunder fans needed this. The Thunder needed this. There are going to be some rough patches, but man this team has found a spark lately.
- Next up: Away vs. Golden State / Saturday 7:30 PM