The Oklahoma City Thunder came back home looking for another win after beating the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Tonight the Thunder faced off against the Charlotte Hornets and Kemba Walker. This was a great matchup between two great point guards in Russell Westbrook and Kemba Walker. Both players have the same heart but have different skill sets that were put on full display. Russell Westbrook’s the type of player that can beat you with his explosiveness and his IQ on the basketball court. Russell makes his teammates around him better and he’s shown that he can still be dominating playing with the ball and off the ball. Kemba Walker is that player that can cross you over and get to the basket with ease and score with his lethal setback jumper. Billy Donovan tried the new lineup of Russell Westbrook, Dennis Schroder, and Paul George tonight. This was the first time we were able to see all three together in the lineup and flourish together. Dennis was finding Westbrook and George in their hot spots and the ball movement was very smooth. The Thunder are playing at a high level right now and having a lot of fun while doing it.
The Hornets were able to hang around all night in this game because of Kemba Walker’s 25 points and 8 assists. Kemba was able to weave through the Thunder defense in that first half and get to the basket with no issue. Billy Donovan made the proper adjustments heading into the second half and that helped big time. The first half the Hornets were trying to get Kemba in a switch with Steven Adams but in the second half, Westbrook was able to defend him at a high level. Russell Westbrook has shown that he can defend and take over a game offensively at will. Russell put the Thunder on his back tonight and finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists. Westbrook dominated this game in the second half and was able to help OKC get the momentum in their favor. The Thunder had 6 players in double digits tonight against the Hornets and the ball movement looked amazing. Deonte Burton had his career high 11 points tonight and was able to make some huge energy plays to spark the team. Burton had 2 dunks that had the whole arena going crazy. The Thunder are now 12-6 on the season and they have a matchup with Denver Nuggets tomorrow in OKC. If the Thunder continue to play like this and continue to grow as a unit this could be a special season.
Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
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