The Thunder wins its first victory despite Elie Okobo's very good match



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It took five attempts, but the Thunder finally won its first win of the 2018-19 season. It's certainly Phoenix (117-110), at home, but with a Russell Westbrook duet (23 points, 9 rebounds, 7 badists, 4 interceptions) – Paul George (23 points, 5 badists) finally skillful the same evening ! PG13 even managed a shot from the midfield at the buzzer of the 3rd quarter to knock out the Suns again.

For Phoenix, the good news is the great match of the French rookie, Elie Okobo: 18 points, 8 badists, 5 rebounds. After leaving 12 points the day before Memphis, Okobo has done even better, not impressed by Westbrook and Schröder. Almost perfect against the Grizzlies, DeAndre Ayton (16 points, 11 rebounds) also scored a good performance in the fifth defeat in six games Phoenix.

Nerlens Noel opportunist

Two notable absences in between: Devin Booker (ischios) for the Suns and Steven Adams (calf) for the Thunder. Not serious because Nerlens Noel seems motivated, author of a dunk left hand on the first action of the match. Despite the absence of Booker, the Suns start their game seriously. Josh Jackson does a good job of hindering Russell Westbrook defensively. Elie Okobo will even place a small dunk on the backdoor. But Paul George takes things in hand. With a strong Christmas Nerlens offensive rebound, the Thunder pbades a 19-5 to finish the first quarter. And it's +10 (30-20).

The demonstration continues in the second quarter. The substitutes in turn feel their expertise with Patrick Patterson who stuffs a cooked dunk after his two 3-point shots in the first quarter. Dennis Schröder continues to punch the Phoenix defense. The gap climbs to +18 on the first basket in the Russell Westbrook field. The Suns are victims of their youth, like Josh Jackson who accumulates the faults and especially 17 balloons lost on 12 interceptions of OKC. At the break, it is expensive (62-48)!

Elie Okobo shines

In addition to a nice offensive balance with three players to 10 points and more at the break, the Thunder succeeds especially to play effectively: on the fast game, on 3-points that finally return. The advantage hovers around the ten or fifteen points at 6 minutes in the third quarter. But Russell Westbrook throws a new thrust with two baskets in a row in transition and coach Kokoskov must stop the bleeding.

DeAndre Ayton reaches double doubles and narrows the gap to 11 while Westbrook gets his breath back on the bench. The Suns needed to find scorers and Ryan Anderson, TJ Warren in addition to Ayton meet present. But Paul George calm down any comeback attempt with a 3-pointer, cold as a blade. Then a new bomb, from the midfield to the buzzer, to put the gap to + 20 (96-76)!

The last quarter sees a nice effort from the Suns, including Okobo who chained two shots to 3-points in a row. And the tricolor rear does not stop in so good way since it ends at 18 points, 8 badists and 5 rebounds with two new layups for a record night in all respects! Phoenix will not be able to tickle the Thunder on this match (117-110). Westbrook and George finish at 23 points with good carbs, and OKC's best group performance this season.

Thunder / 117 shots rebounds
players Low shots 3pts LF off def Early Pd fte Int bp Ct pts Eval
N. Noel 26 9/14 0/0 2/3 6 9 15 2 3 4 1 1 20 35
P. George 30 9/15 4/8 1/2 0 4 4 5 3 3 2 2 23 28
J. Grant 37 4/9 1/4 5/8 1 3 4 1 3 1 1 0 14 11
R. Westbrook 31 8/13 0/0 7/10 1 8 9 7 3 4 6 0 23 29
T. Ferguson 27 3/6 0/2 0/0 0 2 2 0 1 2 3 0 6 4
P. Patterson 30 6/10 2/5 3/4 1 3 4 0 3 0 0 0 17 16
A. Nader 2 0/0 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
D. Schroder 27 4/10 0/1 4/6 0 4 4 7 4 0 2 0 12 13
A. Abrines 24 0/5 0/3 2/2 0 1 1 0 2 2 0 0 2 0
T. Luwawu-Cabarrot 1 0/1 0/1 0/0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1
D. Burton 5 0/2 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 -2
Total 43/85 7/24 24/35 9 34 43 22 24 16 15 3 117
Suns / 110 shots rebounds
players Low shots 3pts LF off def Early Pd fte Int bp Ct pts Eval
R. Anderson 31 4/10 1/4 6/6 2 3 5 0 1 1 2 0 15 13
T. Ariza 28 1/4 0/0 3/3 0 5 5 3 2 2 3 0 5 9
J. Jackson 21 4/10 0/3 0/0 0 1 1 0 6 1 4 1 8 1
D. Ayton 32 8/17 0/0 0/0 2 9 11 3 4 1 3 0 16 19
I. Canaan 6 0/2 0/0 0/0 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 2
R. Holmes 4 0/0 0/0 2/2 1 1 2 2 2 0 1 0 2 5
T. Warren 22 8/17 2/5 0/0 3 5 8 0 2 0 0 1 18 18
Mr. Bridges 22 3/7 1/4 2/2 0 1 1 0 5 2 4 0 9 4
T. Chandler 12 1/1 0/0 2/2 0 2 2 2 1 0 0 1 4 9
E. Okobo 31 5/9 3/6 5/6 2 3 5 7 5 0 3 0 18 22
T. Daniels 17 3/5 1/3 1/1 0 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 8 10
J. Crawford 16 1/4 0/2 5/5 0 2 2 1 2 0 2 0 7 5
Total 38/86 8/27 26/27 10 34 44 21 32 10 22 3 110

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