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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER at PHOENIX SUNS
• Record: 45-34
• http://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameId=400900564

That assist hunting display was a disgrace. Reflects poorly on Russ, reflects poorly on Donovan. Wins matter more than anything else. The anti-Westbrook crew are going to have a field day with that, and rightfully so. Just awful. Make a statement. Show that the wins matter more than anything else. Just a terrible showing all around.

InTheSabonus wrote:That assist hunting display was a disgrace. Reflects poorly on Russ, reflects poorly on Donovan. Wins matter more than anything else. The anti-Westbrook crew are going to have a field day with that, and rightfully so. Just awful. Make a statement. Show that the wins matter more than anything else. Just a terrible showing all around.

Let's calm down a bit. Was there a national outcry when Golden State was playing their hearts out last year well after locking up the Number 1 overall seed because they wanted that regular season wins record? Heck no. Shouldn't be any different for this.

InTheSabonus wrote:That assist hunting display was a disgrace. Reflects poorly on Russ, reflects poorly on Donovan. Wins matter more than anything else. The anti-Westbrook crew are going to have a field day with that, and rightfully so. Just awful. Make a statement. Show that the wins matter more than anything else. Just a terrible showing all around.

Agree 100%, and if you're going to do it, why not put your best scorers on the floor? It didn't make any sense and it totally fit the narrative of the haters.

Well, that's the ONLY game that fits the narrative of the haters. So I hope he can break the record in a normal way (the way he has been playing the whole season). Would be a disaster for his case if he broke the record tonight (still bad for his image but not as bad as if he achieved it)

white trash bros. couldn't get it done

Old Man Game wrote:

InTheSabonus wrote:That assist hunting display was a disgrace. Reflects poorly on Russ, reflects poorly on Donovan. Wins matter more than anything else. The anti-Westbrook crew are going to have a field day with that, and rightfully so. Just awful. Make a statement. Show that the wins matter more than anything else. Just a terrible showing all around.

Let's calm down a bit. Was there a national outcry when Golden State was playing their hearts out last year well after locking up the Number 1 overall seed because they wanted that regular season wins record? Heck no. Shouldn't be any different for this.

But they were actually winning. The biggest criticism there is of Westbrook is that he sometimes just looks to get stats for personal game at the expense of the team. Which is usually overblown and not true. But if you're down 20 to the Suns, you don't go looking for cheap ways to break a record. If ever there was a time for the team to go 'you know what, we value winning more than personal stats', which is exactly how it should be, or at least appear, it was this game.

InTheSabonus wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:

InTheSabonus wrote:That assist hunting display was a disgrace. Reflects poorly on Russ, reflects poorly on Donovan. Wins matter more than anything else. The anti-Westbrook crew are going to have a field day with that, and rightfully so. Just awful. Make a statement. Show that the wins matter more than anything else. Just a terrible showing all around.

Let's calm down a bit. Was there a national outcry when Golden State was playing their hearts out last year well after locking up the Number 1 overall seed because they wanted that regular season wins record? Heck no. Shouldn't be any different for this.

But they were actually winning. The biggest criticism there is of Westbrook is that he sometimes just looks to get stats for personal game at the expense of the team. Which is usually overblown and not true. But if you're down 20 to the Suns, you don't go looking for cheap ways to break a record. If ever there was a time for the team to go 'you know what, we value winning more than personal stats', which is exactly how it should be, or at least appear, it was this game.

Look it is what it is. If for some reason he doesn't get number 42 we'll wish he'd stayed in tonight. 10 years from now no one would remember that he stayed in a blowout to ring up that record. They'll just talk about the record and the insane season. (I would add, its not like he hasn't have triple doubles in other losses.)

Hope to god we don't look like absolute **** next game so we can actually be competitive and not have to worry about it either way.

Hope he gets it in the final game tbh. The standing ovation would be an emotional one, for sure. Question is, does Donovan start resting starters? Is that why he tried to get it tonight? Russ was "staring into oblivion" as the announcers said.

This team has been very worrisome against sub-.500 teams since the ASB. Like, we can't beat them worrisome. I have no idea why. We've looked better against teams above .500 than we have against sub-.500 teams. Unfortunately, our first round matchup is against one of two above-.500 teams that we have no hope of ever being able to stay on the floor with because our defense is comically terrible.

Glad I got to witness Westbrook this season because everything else has been a heart-wrenching, bang-my-head-against-a-brickwall, frustratingly awful.

Oh he's pissed.

OK now that's just weird

bondom34 wrote:Oh he's pissed.

Read on Twitter

He's down on himself. Knowing Russ I can see why he would be, but it isn't that justified. He had a bad game. He's had a wonderful season. Didn't Steph have a game where he went 0-11 from 3. It happens. Kyrie did the same thing when the Spurs killed them. Hope he can just brush it off and move onto the next game in Denver. I don't think anyone will hold a bad game against him when he doesn't have anyone else to carry the load. At least Houston lost to Detroit, so they both had disappointing nights.
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19107601

Osirus89 wrote:

bondom34 wrote:Oh he's pissed.

Read on Twitter

He's down on himself. Knowing Russ I can see why he would be, but it isn't that justified. He had a bad game. He's had a wonderful season. Didn't Steph have a game where he went 0-11 from 3. It happens. Kyrie did the same thing when the Spurs killed them. Hope he can just brush it off and move onto the next game in Denver. I don't think anyone will hold a bad game against him when he doesn't have anyone else to carry the load. At least Houston lost to Detroit, so they both had disappointing nights.
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19107601

Yeah, I know it just sucks this game was THIS awful. They happen, whatever, I do kinda think they play well Sunday now though.

Well this made me happy, Kobe sticking up for Russ:

I don't know what was worse: The refs, Westbrook, Westbrook's teammates or Donovan.

Russ was just complete trash. Had absolutely no composure in the first half. Got it going a little bit and then just started chucking 3s and hunting for assists.

Donovan was once again completely useless. It's cringeworthy seeing his one and only plan fail because he has absolutely no idea how to adjust. We haven't scored on post ups at a respectable rate for a long time now, yet we're still wasting possession after possession on them.
Robes goes out and our defense is just completely out the window. We have no scheme. We just have one absolutely superb wing defender and take it from there.
I really do believe that Donovan is close to completely useless to this team. Every time somebody goes down, we're getting exposed like nobody's business. We're not playing a certain way. We're just playing certain guys and they take it from there on their own.