After a failed start to the season with four defeats at the beginning, the Oklahoma City Thunder have apparently turned the corner. The 95:86 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers was the sixth victory in a row – mainly thanks to Dennis Schröder, who benefits from a tip from Russell Westbrook.
The Thunder shock was great when Russell Westbrook injured himself in the game against New Orleans Pelicans last Tuesday. In the fight for a rebound, the Point Guard landed strangely on the floor and bent his left ankle. That looked really bad!
Shortly thereafter, however, the Thunder gave the all-clear: the 29-year-old had luck in misfortune. Instead of suffering a serious injury, he apparently just sprained his ankle and will probably be able to play again soon after a few days break.
After the first sigh of relief regarding Westbrook, the second sigh of relief followed shortly afterwards. Even without the franchise player, OKC continued their winning streak against the weak Cavaliers – the last six games went to the Thunder.
The guests on this evening owed this above all to Dennis Schröder. The German achieved a new season high with 28 points and was particularly convincing with his efficiency – exactly this was the big dilemma at Schröder at the beginning of the season.
When Westbrook had to pass in the first six games due to the aftershocks of his summer knee surgery, DS17 scored almost no barn goal as his representative in the Starting Five. Although Schröder didn’t sink any of his three attempts from downtown in Cleveland either, he was still out of the field with a strong 11 out of 19.
But: On the one hand he profited from numerous holes in the Cavs defense, on the other hand he didn’t have a single assistant on his account. Schröder was particularly interested in his own scoring. “They played smart and always switched. That’s why Paul [George] and I always had to go aggressively to the basket,” Schröder explained his playing style.
His teammates had a hard time finding their way into the game, though. Apart from Schröder and PG13 (18 points, 7/16 FG), OKC sank just 17 out of 49 field trials (34.7 percent).
So Cleveland was able to start a run in the second half and fight his way back within striking distance – the Thunder had to tremble against the currently worst team of the NBA. So by no means all the gold that shone was gold, neither for Schröder nor for the entire team.
“Thank God we got some throws and stops at the end”, Head Coach Billy Donovan was more relieved than really happy after the game. “We’ve stood firm. “To take a win away is a good thing.”
Especially if you have to do without your undisputed franchise player. And even if the game wasn’t very nice to watch, a victory is a victory in the end.
Westbrook did not miss out on the away trip to Cleveland and supported his team off the pitch. Schröder also benefited from this.
Westbrook advised him to be more aggressive, the German said already after the match against the Pelicans. This attitude – in a way the patent recipe for Westbrook’s success in the NBA – had already taken DS17 to heart against New Orleans.
After the Westbrook injury he helped the Thunder to victory with eleven points in the final section. Also in Cleveland, Schröder fully relied on the advice of his new teammate – even though his game as a playmaker suffered as a result.
“I’ve already improved in the month I’ve been here,” Schröder says nevertheless. “Simply because he [Westbrook] has so much influence on you when he says something.” Whether the tips of the MVP of 2017 also need to be critically questioned should, however, be taken for granted.
After all, it is obvious that the Thunder cannot succeed in the long run if Schröder tries to take over the role of Westbrook one-to-one. Rather, the German must find a good mix of his own scoring and playmaking so that his fellow players can also be successful.
The Thunder obviously assume that Westbrook will not be available to them again in the upcoming game against the Rockets (Fr., 2 o’clock on DAZN), so Schröder will most likely jump into the breach again as a starter – and has to prove himself in the person of Chris Paul, James Harden and Co. against a slightly different caliber than the Cavs.