Thunder 103 – 76ers 97 | Rapid Recap

The Thunder GuysOctober 27, 2016 No Comments

The Thunder pulled out an outstanding team win tonight against the 76ers 103-97. It was nowhere near a pretty win, but a win is a win. After a slow start the team started to heat up, mainly due to the performance of Russell Westbrook.

It was a back and forth game, and until the end of the fourth quarter it always felt like the Sixers had the upper hand. However, Oklahoma City managed to hang around long enough until they could finally take over in the end. The Thunder proved to be the more experienced team down the stretch, and that was the difference in this one.

Slow Start For Offense

The Thunder struggled to score right off the bat tonight, shooting 2-11 from the field. Just about everyone struggled to shoot at some point tonight, but the most notable was Victor Oladipo. While he did an excellent job at creating a shot for himself, he simply couldn’t get anything to go down. Oladipo finished the night 4-16 with 10 points.

Kyle Singler had an outstanding pre-season but couldn’t get anything going on offense tonight either.  After lighting up the score board from beyond the arc in previous games, he shot 1-6 from the field.

Andre Roberson did not score until the 1:47 mark of the fourth quarter. He was 0-2 tonight with 3 assist and 1 point. The Thunder will need a lot more production from him this season on the offensive end. After shooting pretty well last year in the playoffs, Roberson has the green light on offense, but he chose to pass up several open looks tonight.

Russ Gives Team a Spark

Russell Westbrook to no surprise, nearly recorded a triple-double tonight with 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists. After starting the game 1-4, he was all the sudden 4-7 and the Thunder were right back into the game. Not only did Westbrook start to get his rhythm going shooting the ball, he was able to get others involved with his assists.

The backbone of this team took over in the final minutes of the game. He knocked down some of the most clutch shots of his career tonight. Westbrook made sure he had the ball in the final minutes and made the shots when the time came. He showed tonight that he is very capable of being this teams leader.

 

The Stache Bro’s Come Up Huge

The best Post-duo in the NBA combined for a total of 33 points and 17 rebounds tonight. Steven Adams had 16 points, and Enes Kanter finished with 17. Both men got off to a slow start but finished strong.

In the final seconds of the game, Oladipo got his shot blocked, but Kanter was right there to get the rebound and score. This clutch basket sealed the deal for the Thunder. The team will need the Stache Bro’s to have many more big games like this throughout the season.

Home Opener Vs. the Suns

The Thunder will be back in action next at the Peake on Friday night against the Phoenix Suns. The game is at 7 PM CST and will be televised on FSOK and broadcast on the radio on WWLS 98.1 FM.

Article written by Craig Hofeld. Follow @TheThunderGuys on Twitter.

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