Russell Westbrook is on track to have one of the most dominant seasons in the history of the NBA. He continued that reign of terror on Monday night. The dynamic guard came close to putting up a triple double before the first half even ended. The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the New York Knicks by a score of 112-103, as reported by ESPN .
27 points, 18 rebounds, 14 assists. Second fastest triple-double in @NBA history. Here’s Russ after the W. pic.twitter.com/kwoJTVbnMT
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2016
When all was said and done, Russell Westbrook turned the ball over seven times against the New York Knicks. Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan can live with that because of the other things that his star point guard did during the game. Westbrook put up 27 points, 18 rebounds, and 14 assists. The former UCLA Bruins star also added two steals and hit all seven of his free throw attempts. This is the third triple double in a row for Westbrook.
Enes Kanter must have been reading all the recent press clippings on the New York Knicks and decided to use that as motivation. In one of his best games in the NBA, the backup center put up 27 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks. That type of contribution by Kanter is really rare to see from someone that come off the bench. The Oklahoma City Thunder knew that they needed to provide Russell Westbrook with some help.
The other big man for the Oklahoma City Thunder had a pretty good game himself. Steven Adams, the starting center, put up 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also provided the physical defense that the Thunder need in order to take advantage of NBA teams that have been committing themselves towards playing smaller lineups. Adams is one of the rare true centers left in the league.
There was also some help from the perimeter as well. Oklahoma City Thunder guards Andre Roberson and Anthony Morrow combined to produce 24 points. The production is like having a third superstar to go along with what Russell Westbrook and Enes Kanter provided.
Coming into the game, Derrick Rose knew that he had to step up to the plate in order to keep up with one of the best players in the NBA. Defensively, he obviously was not able to slow down Russell Westbrook. However, very few players are going to be capable of doing that. Instead, Rose focused on trying to keep up on the offensive end. He did that by putting up 30 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Rose also hit all 10 of his attempts from the free throw line.
Kristaps Porzingis continues to keep the hype train going. He scored 21 points by hitting three of his shots from beyond the arc. Porzingis also gained a little attention by opting to donate $500 to a charitable cause for each block that he received. The Latvian power forward was pretty disappointed with himself recently when he went an entire game without blocking one shot. Against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he made up for that by notching five blocks.
Carmelo Anthony struggled with his shot, but he still managed to put up 18 points for the New York Knicks. The veteran forward also showed some hustle by pulling down eight rebounds and getting to the free throw line 11 times, missing just one of those shots from the charity stripe.
A lot of New York Knicks fans want to see Joakim Noah playing fewer minutes. The former Chicago Bulls center did not put up much of an argument by pulling down just three rebounds. However, the four blocked shots and beautiful lob passes to Kristaps Porzingis might have earned him at least another chance of proving to the fans that he deserves to still be in the rotation.
[Featured Image by Michael Reaves/Getty Images]