James Harden Calls Thunder a ‘One-Man Show’

Russell Westbrook scored 30 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 105-103 victory over the Houston Rockets Wednesday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. “So, I think he had a clear lane”. As for Harden, he was kept in check by Andre Roberson and Victor Oladipo, finishing with 13 points (4-for-16 FG), seven rebounds, 13 assists, two steals and six turnovers.

“Just happy it’s not me”, he said.

Westbrook took an awesome 44 shots on the night, but his head coach Billy Donovan indicated he was not bothered by that as he thought his point guard took what was given him by the opposing defense.

Brook Lopez has been soft since Stanford so there’s nothing to worry about down low against Steven Adams.

“He had a special performance”, Magic coach Frank Vogel said. Oladipo’s worst shooting night as a member of the Thunder preceded his best.

“When Russell asked me to be a presenter, I didn’t even pause because of the relationship and the respect that I have for Clay (Bennett) and obviously the respect that I have for Russell”.

Payton finished the game one point shy of his career high, with 23 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.

“We called that previous year”, he said. We didn’t play well and we didn’t shoot the ball well.

ATLANTA – Paul Millsap scored 21 points, Mike Muscala added 16 and Atlanta won its sixth straight game, beating Milwaukee. Last season, his time of possession of 6.3 minutes per game was twice as much as anyone else on the Rockets.

Westbrook remains the best player on a younger Thunder team.

The last of Adams three swats was important in the context of the game, though, coming as Eric Gordon made a play at the rim with just over a minute left and the Thunder up 102-100.

Instead, Westbrook is letting his improvisation skills take over.

The Thunder rallied late in the third quarter. He is posting a -1.8 defensive box plus minus and 1.3 blocks per game, both career lows.

After Ibaka’s shot with 0.4 seconds left, Nick Collison and Westbrook couldn’t connect on a lob near the basket. He hit just three of his nine attempts from the 3-point line, but got to the free throw line 13 times, making all but one as the Golden State Warriors beat the Toronto Raptors, 127-121.

Since Archibald last did it in 1972-73, no player has scored or assisted on 50 points per game.

The Seattle SuperSonics drafted Westbrook with the No. 4-overall pick in the 2008 draft only weeks before the team moved to Oklahoma City to become the Thunder. The Thunder shot 75 percent in the first quarter to lead 38-32. And it was worth it for the uproarious fan reaction, one that’s to be expected on a dunk that effectively ends a four-game losing streak.

The closest over that time anyone’s come to doing it are Isiah Thomas (49.7 in 1984-85), Allen Iverson (49.5 in 2005-06), LeBron James (49.4 in 2009-10) and Michael Jordan (49.0 in 1988-89). “I haven’t been here before”. “I don’t know if he was shooting a shot [at Durant], that’s his swag”. “I’m looking at guys seeing if their confidence is high, seeing if they’re engaged in the game, seeing if they’re locking in on what’s going on, seeing if they’re reading the coverages”.