Okalahoma City Thunder (30-20) beat the Philadelphia 76ers (24-22)122:112 in a thrilling game. Russell Westbrook delivered a strong second half and made Joel Embiid forget that he took the MVP to the posters with a brilliant dark.
Andre Roberson’s horror injury forced Thunder coach Billy Donovan to change his lineup and relied on Rookie Terrance Ferguson as the fifth man. It was a fiercely contested game from the outset, which was expected after the triple-OT thriller in December. Joel Embiid took revenge with a monstrous dark to Russell Westbrook, who provoked the center with a wave in the first leg after the siren.
It wasn’t Westbrook’s (6/20 FG) game in the first half anyway. Ben Simmons initially defended strongly against the MVP, which simply didn’t get going. The Sixers were able to keep the game evenly balanced, partly because they played numerous fouls on the Thunder. Joel Embiid was unbelievably dominant (17 points in the first half). Brett Brown even left him in the game, even though the Cameroonian had three fouls eight minutes before the break.
When JoJo sat, the little dark contest started. Without Rim Protector Justin Anderson, Westbrook and Simmons outbid each other with spectacular dunks and lots of flexing afterwards. Paul George then finished half of the race furiously – with a deep threesome with the buzzer. The Sixers still led 58:57.
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After the change, the intensity continued at the same level. Dario Saric, who had to fight with fouls before the break, opened with eight points in a row. Embiid was a quick foul again and had to go to the bank this time. Without a shot blocker, Westbrook and Co. to the basket, sometimes undisturbed. So the game overturned with a 15:0 run, where Philly fell into old patterns and contributed with unnecessary ball losses.
But when Russ and PG-13 were seated, the Sixers came back to a point, so Donovan Westbrook quickly brought Westbrook back to the field. The guests had no response to him and Adams. Thanks to five Westbrook points at a time, the Thunders pulled out to 9 points two minutes before the end of the race, the decision.
The top scorer of the Thunder was Westbrook, who scored 37 points (14/33 FG, 8/11 FT), 9 rebounds and 14 assists with a strong second half. George contributed 31 (9/17 FG, 9/11 FT). Adams (20,10/11 FG, 13 rebounds) had a strong double-double. Carmelo Anthony scored 16 points. In Philly’s case, Embiid (27.10 rebounds) and Ben Simmons (22.10/14 FG, 7 assists) were particularly convincing, while Saric scored a further 16 points.
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Steven Adams. While Russ and PG-13 were scanning, the center did some dirty work and did things that didn’t show up in the boxing score. His screens, which prevent help from getting to the drive, were essential again. The work on the offensive board (10 offensive rebounds!) has already become standard in the last few months anyway. In the final phase, he was also convincing with a strong defence against Embiid and helped OKC win the game.
Robert Covington. The first half was still quite acceptable, but then the wing player dived. After the break, I marked only 3 points (1/6 FG) and hardly contributed anything. He had the free throws, but either they didn’t fall or he gave the spalding back. The strong Simmons and Embiid would have been in the absence of JJ. Redick used more production than 11 counters (3/11 FG).
Donovan adjusted his usual rotation a little bit and let Adams take over with the reservists. This was necessary because it was intended to contain Embiid. Pistons-Center Boban Marjanovic had already dominated the reservists of the Thunder the day before. This plan was torpedoed, however, because the kiwi took his third foul after only 3 minutes in the second quarter. Shortly afterwards Patrick Patterson suffered a cut and was bleeding, Dakari Johnson saw a few minutes and made his case against Embiid quite respectable. Also interesting: In Crunchtime, Donovan trusted Jerami Grant to counteract the length of the guests.