The reigning Kia MVP Russell Westbrook returned from platelet-rich plasma injection in his left knee to join up with his new All-Star teammates Paul George and Carmelo Anthony for the first time this preseason to get a solid win against the New Orleans Pelicans 102-91 in Oklahoma.

Westbrook managed to play ten minutes in his return scoring 9 points on 3 of 5 shooting he also recorded four assists. Westbrook showed that he is deadly no matter how long he’s on the floor for as he showed off his elite level passing skills that is underrated as he hit up George, Anthony, and Adams. There were two highlight plays between the three-headed monster with Anthony hockey assisting a Westbrook assist that led to an Andre Roberson dunk and Westbrook assisting on a George 3.

George after the game talked about the speed Westbrook plays with “(Westbrook’s) got speed that you can’t scout for, that you can’t plan for,” George said. “It’s a definite luxury to have a guy with you on the floor with you. He’s going to create so much stuff for me and Carmelo. It was good, it was good to get a glimpse of that.” “We joke about it, how to run a fast break with him because he’s so fast,” George said about Westbrook. “By the time you catch it your feet are all messed up trying to catch up to him. So it’s going to be an adjustment, but again, you’ve got a guy that puts that much pressure on a defense, it’s going to make the game so much easier for me. My job is the easy part, just to finish those plays for him.”

Paul George on how fast Russell Westbrook is: "By the time you catch him, your feet is all messed up trying to catch up to him." pic.twitter.com/JxjQwgPdUi — Fred Katz (@FredKatz) October 7, 2017

Carmelo Anthony added nine points, and six rebounds in the first half of the game didn’t return for the second half and also talked after the game how he feels the team is going “We don’t know, we’re just playing ball right now,” Anthony said of building an identity for the team. “We’re just trying to figure it out. We want to play fast, we want to play quick, but I think with Russ you almost have to play quick. If he passes it to you and you’re open, and you don’t shoot it, he’ll get mad at you. That’s something since he’s been in practice we’ve been working on. But we don’t know, we’re just playing basketball, seeing what works, trying to see what doesn’t work, and when the time comes, we’ll see what works and stick with that.”

Carmelo Anthony on if the Thunder are trying to play with more pace: “We don’t know, we’re just playing ball right now.” pic.twitter.com/ZyzG1W88kM — Royce Young (@royceyoung) October 7, 2017

Paul George scored 25 points in just over 27 minutes was the stand out for the Thunder showing what he is bringing to this partnership, and it was a thing of beauty. George talked about a conversation Russell, Carmelo and himself had with Coach Donovan during the week “That’s one thing Coach has sat down with myself, sat down with Russ, Carmelo, is he wants us to be ourselves,” George said. “He wants us to bring what makes us special, just do it within the confinement of this team. That’s what’s going to make the game easy for everybody.”

Coach Billy Donovan also talked to the media about he sees the team developing the communication needed “The communication is great offensively,” coach Billy Donovan said. “Carmelo has played in different systems, so he’s learning a new system, Paul’s learning a system. We’ve had a lot of guys out there doing something for the first time and not only learning something new, not that they haven’t seen this before, but playing and functioning and playing with other guys. I think they’re doing a really, really good job of continuing to work on that chemistry.”

Written by Shannon Blake (justamansopinionblog)