What a WIN!
AWESOME! FANTASTIC! AMAZING! THRILLING! WUNDERBAR! MAGNIFICO! EXCEPTIONNEL! بازي امشب باحال بود
Mere English words cannot describe how awesome this win was for the Thunder. It was a win that required strength in the face of impossible odds, determination, courage, and, most of all, teamwork. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it was the best win win the Thunder's short history.
Not only did we defeat what I consider to be the best team in the NBA at the moment, we did it without Jeff Green and Kevin Durant, who together combine for X percentage of the Thunder's points.
All of the Thunder's role players decided to step up, with Ibaka (Thunder Down Under) and Harden scoring 13 and 10 respectively, and four other players scoring 6 or more.
But easily the best individual performance tonight was that of Russell Westbrook (Thunder Wonder). Sure, you could rip his low field goal percentage, say that he had more turnovers than assists, or talk about how sometime he looked like he was on a personal vendetta against Rajon Rondo. He made this Thunder team work together. He got the ball movement initiated, and he did a great job of limiting Rondo. there were flaws, but without him, our chances of winning would have been drastically decreased. Morris Peterson is the Thunder Blunder for doing nothing.
Below: Quarter-By-Quarter Recap, More Analysis!
In the first quarter, the Thunder did an excellent job of keeping up with the Celtics, despite the lack of Kevin Durant. Russell Westbrook was running the offense, but the peripheral players were doing a lot of scoring. Early on, there was a lot of defense an free throws, but toward the end of the quarter it focused on a lot of open mid-range jumpers, and Ibaka and Shaq were trading baskets.
In the second quarter, the Thunder started to take a slight advantage, and they successfully kept it for the entire quarter. It was another defensively intense quarter that involved a lot of free throws and missed shots.
In the third quarter, Shaq really started bullying people around. One of my friends said, "They should put that guy in a cage!" The quarter was capitalized on an excellent three pointer from Royal Ivey, where he threw the ball up at end of the shot clock and kissed it off the glass. That three put the Thunder up by 10 and really set the tone for the fourth quarter.
But when you're playing against a team as experienced as the Celtics, you know a comeback has to happen some time. After lots of stagnation on both sides, the Celtics slowly climbed their way back into the game by getting fouled over and over again. The closest it got was when Delonte West (Thunder Plunderer) got a rebound and got fouled, and he hit two free throws to put the Celtics down by only 1, 85-84. But, eventually, the Thunder succeeded in getting fouled twice again, putting them up by 5 and winning the game. Delonte West had a chance at a game-tying three, but he missed it.
Fortunately, this game won't be remembered for any intense late moments. Rather, it will be remembered for the Thunder pulling together and genuinely keeping ahead of and staying ahead of a superior opponent. And that's all I really have to say. Go Thunder.
Next Game: At the Milwaukee Bucks, Saturday, November 20th, 7:30 PM Central Standard Time.
Loading comments...