Oklahoma City Thunder
Two words. Russell Westbrook. He makes everyone around him dangerous. It could be a castoff from another team. Potentially even a deep bench player. It really doesn’t matter. What Russ is doing thus far this season is absolutely absurd.
Let’s just look at Wednesday night as a case study here. Westbrook willed his Thunder team to a comeback victory on the road against the hapless Orlando Magic.
How did he do it? Well, the MVP candidate scored 57 points while tallying 13 rebounds and 11 assists. It was his second 50-point triple-double of the season, matching James Harden for the most in single-season history. Did we mention that Westbrook also broke Kevin Durant’s franchise record for the most 40-point games in single-season history?
Averaging 31.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game, Russ is having himself an historical statistical season. He also has the Thunder as the sixth seed in the Western Conference and within striking distance of earning a top-four seed. He’s doing this without Kevin Durant in the mix. Think about that for a second before you conclude that the Thunder themselves are not a dangerous team.
The real question here is whether Oklahoma City can get consistent scoring production from anyone outside of Westbrook during the postseason. In reality, this has been a major problem against some of the top team the west has to offer. After all, Oklahoma City is 2-7 on the season against the top-three seeds in the conference.
This is where the likes of Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams must step up. They need to find a way to pack a scoring punch when it counts the most. If this happens, OKC will be a tough out come playoff time.