Thunder Barrage Silences Jazz

I have watched a lot of Thunder basketball but never have I witnessed what took place last night in Utah. The Thunder, a notoriously bad 3-point shooting team, launched 21 shots from beyond the arc making 13 of them. That's 61% for all you mathematicians out there. The most surprising detail of this long range display was who led the charge. Not Kevin Durant, James Harden, Daequan Cook, or Jeff Green. Russell Westbrook didn't miss from long distance and led OKC in scoring with 33 points. Any avid Thunder fan knows that Westbrook is capable of taking over games. But the way he took over against Utah was something that I can't recall ever happening before.

While I highly doubt Scott Brooks will start calling up plays for Russell to launch a triple, this could be the final weapon in Westbrook's arsenal. If he can develop a decent 3-point shot, it will greatly influence the ease of getting penetration into the lane which he already has no trouble doing. Adding that threat will give opposing point guards all over the league nightmares on the eve of playing OKC.

Even when Russell was out, Eric Maynor came in and provided a hot hand from outside as well. What resulted was our point guard position going 6-6 from 3-point land. That is incredible. Cook and Green also contributed flawless performances from 3 helping the Thunder cruise to a win over a Jazz team that is slumping as of late going 1-7 in their last 8 games. 

Deron Williams seemed to be uncomfortable with the tape on his wrists. The only thing Utah had going for them was Paul Millsap. Millsap scored 34 points in 36 minutes missing 5 of his 20 attempts. That, ladies and gentlemen, is efficiency. Had the Jazz won this game, Millsap would have been all over SportsCenter for the next day and a half.

Here is the box score courtesy of ESPN.

Next up: Memphis Grizzlies, February 8th at 7:00 pm CT.