The Oklahoma City Thunder are without a doubt way worse without Andre Roberson, and a 114-100 loss to one of the league’s worst teams, the Phoenix Suns, showed exactly why.
The Thunder need Andre Roberson, and 8 other things from Sunday night
Also, someone please tell Manu’s body how old he is.
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
The Suns wings went off at home, with Devin Booker scoring 26 points on 17 shots, rookie Josh Jackson going off for 17 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists and T.J. Warren adding 23 points on 15 shots. Roberson’s absence allowed the Suns space to shoot over rookie Terrance Ferguson, Jerami Grant, and nobody else was able to help on the drive. Booker had 12 free-throw attempts himself.
Russell Westbrook’s 26-11-10 triple-double on 52-percent shooting, and Steven Adams, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony’s 51 combined points weren’t enough to overcome the poor defensive effort.
In Seerat Sohi’s weekly SB Nation column, she highlighted how maddening Roberson is as one of the NBA’s best defensive players but worst offensive ones. But his deficiencies are masked to a degree in OKC, and as the numbers tell, his defense stands out. The Thunder are 20 points per 100 possessions better defensively with him on the court.
He’s much more important a piece to OKC’s puzzle than he’s given credit for.
Manu is still Manu!
The Spurs may have lost, 111-110, but Manu Ginobili had a night with 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-9 from three-point range. He became just the fourth player 40 years old or over to score 26 points in a regular-season game since 1963, according to Basketball Reference, and the only one to make six threes in doing so.
He also became the first NBA player over 40 to score 20 or more points in back-to-back games.
The Spurs will need him with Kawhi Leonard out AGAIN to a partial tear in his shoulder.
C.J. McCollum’s floater spoiled Manu’s big night:
Josh Richardson’s clutch layup beat the Jazz:
Ron Baker wore a headband with his mask and it looked excellent:
We asked our Twitter followers what it looks like Baker does for a living, and here are some of the best answers:
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Scores
Heat 103, Jazz 102 (Hot Hot Hoops recap | SLC Dunk recap)
Suns 114, Thunder 100 (Bright Side of the Sun recap | WTLC recap)
Trail Blazers 111, Spurs 110 (Blazers Edge recap | Pounding the Rock recap)
Lakers 132, Hawks 113 (Silver Screen & Roll recap | Peachtree Hoops recap)
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