Westbrook experimenting with Thunder’s 4th quarter recipe
The Thunder trailed by 13 headed into the fourth quarter Sunday against Minnesota. By the time Russell Westbrook reentered the game, the deficit was four.
Westbrook Time right? Yes and no.
With Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, Westbrook has been experimenting through three games. The Thunder’s fourth quarter was a continuation of that experiment, with equal parts Westbrook dominance and distribution.
Call it success in a loss. Against Minnesota, Westbrook struck a balance in the fourth quarter that could be vital to the Thunder’s offensive cohesion this season. That version of Westbrook wasn’t present in the Thunder’s loss in Utah on Saturday, where he shot just twice in the final period.
For one of the best fourth quarter performers from last season, Salt Lake City was an odd ending. Westbrook insisted after the loss to the Jazz that the game isn’t any different from last season. OK, but while the ball is still round, the players are of different skill sets and expectations.
Westbrook entered this season knowing he’d have to be accommodating to George and Anthony, even a season after he was so dominant in the fourth quarter.
Sunday night was a glimpse of that accommodation. The Thunder went 10-of-18 in the final 8:36 Westbrook was in the game. A more aggressive Westbrook took half of those shots and made six, a clip of 66.7 percent.
It won't always be that efficient. Westbrook came out firing on his first possession, but missed a 3-pointer. What was more important in this 82-game marathon, however, was the creation of the shot. It wasn’t a Westbrook solo mission.
Westbrook passed to George who was coming off a screen. George bounced pass to Anthony, who drove baseline and whipped the ball back to George, who then went back to Westbrook for a spot up 3-pointer. A miss wasn’t the desired result but it was good offense considering it created an open look, and Westbrook shot 35.6 percent on spot-up 3-pointers last season.
The Thunder’s offense in the fourth had ball movement, man movement, and traditionally deadly Westbrook play.
“We were just playing to our strengths,” Anthony said. “We were putting Russ in pick and rolls and allowing him to play downhill. When we do that, you have to pick what you want to do on the defensive end when we have Steven (Adams) rolling, me on the weakside and Paul coming off (screens) and being aggressive.”
But Westbrook kept Minnesota off balance. Twenty-six feet from the rim, he signaled with a nod and Adams came running to the top of the 3-point line to set a screen. It was always going to be a decoy. When Adams made it halfway to Westbrook, the point guard nailed the spot up 3.
Meanwhile, of the four shots hit by other players in the final 8:26, three were created by Westbrook assists. Anthony had a clean look at a 3-pointer but he instead shot faked and stepped inside the line to take a 20-footer. After the miss, Westbrook didn’t gripe but gave Anthony the flick of the wrist — the shooting motion — encouraging him to take the spotup 3-pointer.
Later, Anthony didn’t hesitate when Westbrook shoveled off to him for the go-ahead corner 3-pointer, which appeared to be the game winner until that 30-foot heave from Andrew Wiggins. Per ESPN Stats and Information, Thunder players not named Westbrook only had three go-ahead field goal attempts in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime last season. Through three games, the Thunder has already made as many non-Westbrook go-ahead shots in the final 10 seconds as all of last season (one).
“It doesn’t get any better at that position to me,” George said of Westbrook. “His ability to score, his ability to play above the rim and still know where everyone is on the floor. He is a special talent.
“You saw it. He is going to make the right plays.”
Small sample size alert, but you can see through three games Westbrook is probing for the correct plays and the right offensive patterns. He hit the sweet spot Sunday night.