Thunder collective crushes Kings
SACRAMENTO,
CALIF. — The Golden 1 Center had seen enough, courtesy of Paul George.
Russell Westbrook came down the floor and immediately sought the mismatch. George doesn’t usually play early in the fourth quarter, but a thin Thunder bench on Wednesday required it.
In the Thunder’s 132113 win against the Kings, it not only snapped a three-game road losing streak, but its new Big Three stepped up as a collective following a late announcement that Dennis Schroder wouldn’t be available due to a onegame suspension.
Led by George’s 43 points, the Thunder blasted the Kings with overwhelming efforts from its entire starting lineup. It was punctuated by George’s dominant start to the fourth, a time when Schroder would normally be running the point.
Along with Schroder, Raymond Felton was suspended a game for coming off the bench during a third-quarter skirmish against the Bulls on Monday. Without Schroder and Felton and mere hours to prepare for their absences, George assumed second-unit ballhandling duties in addition to keeping up his torrid scoring pace.
The Thunder led by nine, 98-89, to start the fourth quarter. Five minutes in, George had 14 points and the lead had
ballooned to 21 points. George scored or assisted on the first 12 Thunder points of the period.
The dagger came when Westbrook tossed the ball to George’s right shoulder as George was posting up the smaller Yogi Ferrell. In one motion, George turned into an 18-foot jump shot that sent the fans to the exits and Westbrook flexing and yelling at the surging MVP candidate as the Kings took a timeout with seven minutes left.
Before that George tear, Westbrook was doing everything on offense but hitting his free throws.
In. Out. Left. Right. Westbrook was trying to dribble up the back of second-year guard De’Aaron Fox. Westbrook switched directions with every sprinting step on the fast break in the Thunder’s dominant 35-19 second quarter.
When Westbrook scored the basket without hesitation and was fouled, the microphone on the glass picked up every demonstrative syllable of his “AND ONE” scream, followed by “I’M TOO FAST,” a shot back at Fox for insisting he was the fastest guard in the NBA. The entire Golden 1 Center heard it, including Westbrook’s wife, Nina, sitting about a dozen rows behind the Thunder bench.
Westbrook notched his league-best eighth triple-double, scoring just two points after halftime but looking far more comfortable with his offense en route to 17 points, 11 rebounds and 17 assists.
Then, there was Adams, who scored 20 points and added a career-high 23 rebounds as the Thunder pounded the Kings 66-43 in rebounds.
Then, there were Jerami Grant and Terrance Ferguson, both beneficiaries of Schroder’s absence as well. Grant played the entire first quarter. Ferguson played 29 minutes. Each matched season highs for points, Grant with 22, Ferguson with 14.
The Thunder will have Schroder back in uniform in Salt Lake City on Saturday. For one night, he wasn’t needed as the collective crushed the Kings.