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OKLAHOMA CITY – Russell Westbrook, face to face, compared Patrick Beverley. With a violent whim, he moved the ball to his left and exploded with two dribbles at the edge. He passed Beverley and gently put the ball on the back panel.
As the ball came back, Westbrook took his arms in his arms and swung them back and forth, rocking the proverbial baby. It's a new festive action that he's launched a few times this year and that has made him fall earlier in the game after scoring against Avery Bradley. The latter, where the defender was Beverley, put a little more emphasis on his face, but Westbrook still has a little more movement, even with a good night kiss at the end.
"Yes, you have small children, you have little babies, sleep them," says Westbrook. "That's what happens … Little guards, you have to rock them."
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Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, ends in style and celebrates the event with a motion "Rockabye Baby".
Westbrook is an experienced rocker with a 17-month-old son and two twin daughters on the way this fall. He put the Clippers to bed while the Thunder overcame a 13-point deficit at half-time, setting the tone for the third quarter. The Thunder used a hyper-energetic defense and a transition attack, coming off the locker room on a 20-0 run that turned into a 39-10 quarter and a 74-43 second half en route to a victory of 128-110.
"He is the driving force, he is the leader and he moves us forward," said Paul George. "You see it going on and our job is to support it – it's all that's it – we see it turn that notch and go to another level, our job is to match that."
Westbrook has constantly attacked the Clippers downhill and in paint, resisting midrange push-ups and all three in favor of launches. He finished with 32 points on 13 shots out of 25, plus four rebounds and nine assists.
"Whenever little guards are on me, every time the guard watches their position," he says, "I will punish them."
After a 0-4 start, the Thunder came on Sunday against the Suns, a team probably tied to the lottery and missing its biggest star in Devin Booker. The match against the quality clips was a simpler test, and after a rough first half that included a series of whistles and a stack of free throws, the Thunder faced another flat and disconcerting result.
Everything changed in the third quarter and, even though it is still early, the locker room had the impression after the match that the Thunder had unlocked a little something. They lamentably shot the ball in their four defeats – two being without Westbrook – and lacked a certain advantage. Westbrook, who missed the entire training camp after his knee surgery in September, was still recovering from rust and George was not playing at the expected height.
But the second half against the Clippers looked like what the Thunder wants to be. Westbrook drives all that the Thunder does with emotion, George fills the gaps in efficiency by scoring regularly and regularly, and the defense swarms and creates running opportunities. George started slowly Tuesday night, but once Westbrook ran his engine, George came back to life with 22 of his 32 in the second half.
The Thunder has spent the off-season tweaking the lineup, with subtraction and key addition, precise tweaks to try to fit the identity dictated by Westbrook and favorite coach Billy Donovan. They want to play with speed and tempo, make quick decisions, and relentlessly attack defenses. It's not that Tuesday's game is the formula, but it's a glimpse of logic.
"I'm not saying that it's viable to maintain a team at 10 points per quarter, but you have to play," Donovan said. "That's what it takes."
In the fourth quarter, Beverley was plunged into the attack after a whistle and crashed against Westbrook's knees, triggering a double technique between the two and a blatant for Beverley after an exam. There is a long known history between them and Westbrook is sure to burst the rock-a-baby celebration after it's scored. Beverley imitated in the direction of Westbrook after scoring more than Dennis Schroder at one point, which was received about as good as you might expect.
Westbrook left with about three minutes and the Thunder until 8 pm, heading to the bench with a smug smile and a satisfied nod – the baby had fallen and it was time to rest.
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