The Oklahoma City Thunder (2-2) have won their second game in the fourth game. In the process, Indiana Pacers (2-3) won the race against Indiana Pacers (2-3) without any problems. At 114:96, Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony were two of the Big Three’s star players, while Paul George remained pale against his former team.
Before the game, much had been written about Paul George and his first encounter with his old love. Whoever would have thought that the All-Star would serve his ex-team well, was wound crooked. PG-13 seemed strangely passive and had to contend with problems of foul in the first half. Until the break the forward only took four throws. OKC wanted to involve him more, but a quick foul meant that he had to get back on the bench. Finally, he foulled out six minutes before the end with only 10 points (4/8 FG) on the account.
Instead, the Thunders’ game was dominated by Russell Westbrook, who was able to score a double-double (11 points, 10 assists) during the break. After the break, Russ scored more and OKC steadily improved the six-point lead after 24 minutes in the third quarter. At the end there was a strong triple double with 28 points (10/18 FG), 10 rebounds and 16 assists. Only at the Charity Stripe Brody showed unusual weaknesses (6/10 FT).
Indiana made it much better on the line. Through many free throws (30/35 FT) the Pacers stayed at least reasonably close, but also Carmelo Anthony (28 points, 9/17 FG) scored better after the break and so all comeback hopes had to be buried. Steven Adams scored 17 points (8/13 FG) and 11 rebounds.
The Pacers game was mostly dominated by the good guards. Victor Oladipo blossomed against his old team and scored a strong 35 points (11/18 FG, 5/8 threesomes). At the same time, he pinned OKC numerous fouls and played against George a more than acceptable defense. Darren Collison scored 18 points next to him. In addition, Thaddeus Young (14) was also in the double-digit range. Apart from that, Indiana lacked depth and scoring. Only 33.7 percent of the litters found their way into the basket.
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The Thunders dominated the zone almost at will. Only when the OKC center was out of the field was Indiana able to access the attacking board in the person of Singapore, but most of the time the Thunder on the defensive board fitted. One of the highlights was Carmelo Anthony, who this time played an exemplary boxing match and grabbed a total of 10 rebounds. The duel between the two boards went to OKC at 44:38.
Much of it was too static in the Thunders’ game before the change. There was too little exercise in it. However, since Indiana is a defensive and extremely weak team, especially close to the ring, the Thunders from the two-man area hit far more than 60 percent (54:28 Points in the Paint). 54:28 Points in the Paint) From outside, however, it hacked from the outside, as throws were often taken with expiring shotclock. It was also a little alarming that the bankers of the Thunder were not able to hit their distance throws, although the throws were sometimes very open. Raymond Felton or Patrick Patterson only lost a few throws in the last quarter, which meant that the threesome had risen to just over 37 percent. This should play a significant role against stronger opponents.
Pacers’ problem? The bank! Lance Stephenson, Al Jefferson and Cory Joseph achieved exactly one field goal in the first round (at eleven attempts). Rookie TJ Leaf didn’t even target the basket. McMillan also only used 9 players – Garbage Time excluded. The weak OKC bank even managed to win this duel (27:21). This will probably not happen too often this season.
The event was dominated by many blowtorches. Although Indiana had real bad throwing rates, she knew how to march steadily along the line. It must also be mentioned that the referees’ leash was very short that evening. All to the regret of George and Josh Huestis, who this time was given preference over Rookie Terrance Ferguson. Both of them had four fouls in just 15 minutes of play shortly after the break. But the Pacers were also far from satisfied with the Refs, so McMillan picked up a technical foul in the fourth quarter because of violent protests.
Fun Fact: Patrick Patterson, another important Stretch Big in Toronto, was without points for the Thunders before this game. In the fourth quarter it was time for him to score his first score (before 0/7 FG, 0/6 Dreier) after a total of 40 seasonal minutes.
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Russell Westbrook. Without him, even with the new Big Three, there’s not much going on at the Thunder. Its explosiveness is essential for OKC, otherwise there was too little exercise. Already during the break, the current MVP had collected 10 assists. He found a very pleasant mixture of his own conclusion and the search for the other player. The Plus-Minus rating may not always be very meaningful, but it’s no coincidence that Westbrook had by far the best rating of the Thunder (+27). The seven turnovers are all taken at this point.
The Lithuanian was completely without a chance against Steven Adams and scored three fouls early on. After the break, he was much more active in rebounding and got a total of 8 offense rebounds, but in most cases he could not convert this into points (1/9 FG). Also weak: Joseph, Born Ready and Bojan Bogdanovic (0/7 FG).
Billy Donovan is still looking for his rotations, which became clear again today. While Westbrook played mainly with Melo and the other starters in the first few games, this time he led the second unit when Anthony and PG-13 took a seat on the bench. And that worked quite well. While the bank was a problem in the first few games, OKC had fewer scoring problems. The last season’s inseparable combo with Westbrook-Adams was blown up, but Patrick Patterson made the field wide in parts for Russ. But: There were also short phases in which everyone just watched the Big Three. Accordingly, the Thunders’ game was piecemeal during this period.