The OKC Thunder (4-4) have meanwhile found their rhythm and won their fourth win in a row against the Washington Wizards (1-7). The capital city’s 111:134 was a sad picture despite the return of Dwight Howard.
After his last catastrophic appearances and a sobering 1-6 opening balance, Washington finally had some good news before the match: Dwight Howard was available for the first time and could also make his debut in the Starting Five. And in fact the Big Man already showed his impact in the first minutes – which was transferred to his team at first.
Washington was more dynamic than before and hit all of his first seven throws, Howard opened the match directly with an And-1. Although the guests, who had to play Charlotte the day before, quickly found their rhythm, the man of the first quarter was Howard: After twelve minutes D12 was already at 13 points (6/7 FG). The 35:30 lead, however, had the Thunder after a Jumper from Nerlens Noel shortly before the siren.
And afterwards the effect was completely gone. Washington lost the rhythm offensively and gave defensively a similar miserable picture as last time, OKC got just in transition every throw which it wanted to have. So the lead quickly grew to 20 points, shortly before the half-time break it became even worse: The first half ended with 79:50 (!) and the hosts did not even know how they had happened.
After the break at least the starters of Washington showed a certain rebellion and a threesome from John Wall made OKC coach Billy Donovan take a break again with a 22 point lead. Shortly before the end of the quarter there were only 19, after Washington had managed to string a few stops together for the first time in a long time. With a remarkable layup and two free throws, Dennis Schröder, who had been quite inconspicuous until then, extended the lead to 25 points until the quarter rest.
This cleared up even the last doubts and in the last quarter only the bench players were allowed to let off steam. OKC top scorer Russell Westbrook (23 points, 12 assists) and Paul George (17) did not play at all in the final quarter. Jerami Grant increased his score to 22 points, Schröder finished the game with 16 points (6/11 FG), 6 rebounds and 5 assists. In the Wizards, Bradley Beal scored 27 points, Howard 20 points, Wall 19 points and 9 assists.
After four defeats at the start of the season, OKC has now brought just as many victories in series and is finally back on track. The Wizards, on the other hand, will be the taillight of the Eastern Conference, on a par with Cleveland for the time being – and given the way they are now presenting themselves again, things could get tight for coach Scott Brooks sooner or later.
Washington Wizards vs. OKC Thunder 111:134 (BOXSCORE)
Russell Westbrook. The MVP of 2017 has already experienced more strenuous evenings. Washington let him mainly change gears and rule and Westbrook made good use of his free time – in only 26 minutes he scored an efficient 23 points (10/16 FG) and only achieved 1 turnover with 12 assists.
The defense of the Wizards. Impossible to highlight a player here – Washington’s defense was a collective disaster. There was a lack of commitment and coordination – sometimes the players even disagreed whether they should fight over screens or switch. This resulted in more open OKC throws than there should be in an NBA game.
Howard’s inclusion in the Starting Five showed, at least to some extent, how Washington wants to play offensively in the future: Several times the center was well integrated into the Pick’n’Roll, a few times he was allowed to post up – as long as the odds are as good as in this game, you can “allow” him to do so. However, the Wizards took the chance to win themselves through their defense, the offense was in this game only conditionally.
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