Russell Westbrook used 27 scoring possessions to score 29 points on Thursday -- which really isn't all that efficient -- while also losing six turnovers. So why, then, was it excellent news for the Oklahoma City Thunder's scoring efficiency that Westbrook was the dominant ball-handler on the night? Let's explore.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Thunder and described ways in which I thought they could improve as a team. One of my suggestions was that they needed to run their offense entirely through Westbrook, letting him be the offensive engine so that the rest of the starters could all act almost entirely as finishers. I noted that, although Carmelo Anthony and Paul George were better at creating offense than Westbrook's teammates were last year, it was actually bad for the team for them to do it. This was because Westbrook was a proven engine, having had three straight seasons ranking second in the NBA in offensive real plus-minus (ORPM), indicating that his presence on the court has correlated positively with outstanding offensive results for his team on a consistent level that neither Anthony nor George had ever reached.
My argument was that both Anthony and George could be excellent high-efficiency finishers if they ceded the job of offense creation to Westbrook, and just concerned themselves with finishing the shots that he set up for them. Similarly, players like Steven Adams or Andre Roberson (or, now, Terrance Ferguson) were role players on offense who would also benefit by playing off of Westbrook and letting him create.
I got push-back for that article on Twitter (@ProfessorDrz), with many pointing out Westbrook's scoring inefficiencies and suggesting that, therefore, he was hurting the team's offense. I have the historical numbers on my side to make my argument, but even better -- the result has been playing out on the court for the last several weeks. The Thunder have adopted the policy I suggested, and are now in the midst of their most successful stretch of play of the season. Thursday was another example of this. While Westbrook's efficiency was certainly questionable, he still managed 11 assists as he generated the Thunder's offense.
This helped lead to these performances from Oklahoma City's frontcourt players:
George: 31 points (12-16 FG, 2-2 FT), 6 rebounds, 5 3-pointers, 3 assists, 3 TO, 1 block
Anthony: 22 points (9-12 FG, 1-3 FT), 4 rebounds, 3 3-pointers, 2 assists, 0 TO
Adams: 12 points (5-11 FG, 2-2 FT), 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 TO
Jerami Grant: 8 points (4-5 FG, 0-1 FT), 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 0 TO
This quartet combined for 73 points on 68 percent shooting from the field. Westbrook was warping and collapsing the opposing defense so much with his wild (and perhaps personally inefficient) scoring, that he could create all types of easy shots for his teammates. This is why running the offense almost entirely through Westbrook is excellent news for the Thunder moving forward -- and for the scoring efficiency and fantasy offensive production of his teammates.
Thursday recap
Box scores
Highlights:
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors: 17 points (5-9 FG, 7-8 FT), 14 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 TO
Gerald Green, Houston Rockets: 29 points (9-16 FG, 3-3 FT), 8 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 0 TO
DeAndre Jordan, LA Clippers: 26 points (10-15 FG, 6-7 FT), 17 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 TO
Lowlights:
Trevor Ariza, Houston Rockets: 3 points (1-8 FG), 3 rebounds, 1 3-pointer, 2 steals, 1 TO
C.J. Williams, LA Clippers: 6 points (3-9 FG), 1 assist, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 33 minutes
Thursday takeaways
While Kevin Durant is a monster player, his Thursday absence let the Warriors revert to who they were before he arrived -- a 73-win team that relied strongly on the triumvirate of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. Green produced the triple-double, but Curry and Thompson combined for 57 points and 10 3-pointers on only 40 total shots. Andre Iguodala (available in 91.5 percent of leagues) started for Durant, and turned in a solid 10 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block in 31 minutes.
Gerald Green (available in 88.9 percent of leagues) is for real, especially while James Harden is out of the Houston lineup. Green has become the third primary scorer on this iteration of the Rockets, even coming off the bench, playing as the wingman to Chris Paul and Eric Gordon.
The Clippers are playing almost entirely through Jordan, Blake Griffin (24 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 3-pointers), and Lou Williams (26 points, 10 assists, 3 rebounds, 4 3-pointers), with everyone else filling a role. This will likely remain the case as long as injuries continue to deprive them of Danilo Gallinari, Austin Rivers and now Milos Teodosic (see below).
Injuries of note
Kevin Durant sat out Thursday's game with a right calf strain. The injury isn't believed to be serious, but it was the second half of a back-to-back and Golden State's opponent was without its best player, James Harden. Durant is likely to return for Saturday's game.
Milos Teodosic played only nine minutes on Thursday before leaving with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Teodosic had trouble with his foot earlier in the season as well, so this could become a lingering issue. For now, he should be considered to be questionable. If he sits, and with Austin Rivers still out for the next couple of weeks, it could mean more playing time for C.J. Williams (available in 99.2 percent of leagues). Williams played 33 minutes on Thursday, but doesn't have a game that produces many stats.
Analytics advantage for Friday
The Los Angeles Lakers allow their opponents to grab the third-most rebounds (45.6 rebounds per game), to block the most shots (6.1 blocks per game), and to shoot with the seventh-highest field goal percentage inside the arc (51.9 percent of two-point shots) of any team in the league. They are weak in the middle, by almost any metric.
This bodes well for the interior players on the Charlotte Hornets for their Friday face-off. While Dwight Howard is their primary interior player, it could be a good night for other bigs like Frank Kaminsky (available in 85.2 percent of leagues) or Marvin Williams (available in 88.4 percent of leagues) -- or even big wings like Nicolas Batum (available in 37 percent of leagues).
Top players to watch tonight
Kawhi Leonard has been slowly working his way back after a long injury, but he's getting closer to normal. His minutes have scaled up in his last five games on the court --- from 15 to 20 to 26 to 27 to 30 in his last outing. True, he has also been sitting out games regularly, but he rested on Wednesday. As such, he should be good to go on Friday. Meanwhile, back on Tuesday, he popped for a stat line that would have looked quite normal for him pre-injury. Can he do that again, or perhaps scale up even further on Friday against the Phoenix Suns?
Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond had a war of words earlier in the season, which sparked both of them to admit to the bad blood between them. Drummond sat out his last game with a rib injury, but his coach said he could have played as it was all about pain management. Might their mutual enmity be enough to encourage Drummond to play tonight and, if so, who will get the better of this chapter of what seems to be a budding rivalry?