The Thunder escapes a three-overtime game in Philidelphia winning 119-117 after Russell Westbrook battled with himself only to come up big time in the three overtimes finishing with 27 points, 18 rebounds and 15 assists and his 10th triple-double. It was Carmelo Anthony who shot the ball well and got the Thunders offense rolling early in the game finishing with 24 points and seven rebounds shooting 11-of-17. The Thunder take this tough win and head to Anthony’s former team and his first game in Madison Square Garden since leaving the New York Knicks.

PLUS

Westbrook early ball movement

Russell Westbrook was like an Eagle in the first half finding his teammates everywhere with great passing and vision. Westbrook was bullet passing the ball to Carmelo Anthony at the top of the key also making the extra the pass after some great Thunder ball movement to find Raymond Felton for three in the corner wide open. If it wasn’t for some poor catching from Jerami Grant Westbrook could have had even more assists instead he finished with eight for the quarter and was a big reason for the Thunders early shooting success as team finished shooting 52.5 percent in the first quarter from the field and a massive 61.5 percent from three-point range on 8-of-13 shooting. Westbrook finished the game with 27 points, 18 rebounds and 15 assists.

Mr. Westbrook SLAMS it home in 3OT! He's up to 27 pts/17 reb/14 ast. @FOXSportsOK pic.twitter.com/x1qKyf3iXs — OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 16, 2017

Carmelo Shooting in the first half

Anthony has been struggling with his shot this season but against the Philidelphia 76ers he found his shot again in the first half Anthony was 7-of-10 from the field at 70 percent and 1-of-3 from three-point range at 33.3 percent. Anthony was the catalyst for the Thunders first-half lead of 55-47. Anthony was red hot from the mid-range which was thanks to great passing by Russell Westbrook in the first quarter. Anthony finished with 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting at 64.7 percent while also bringing down seven rebounds.

The second unit

The Thunders second unit was fantastic against the 76ers as a collective they finished with 35 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks. Josh Huestis, Raymond Felton and Patrick Patterson were the standouts with Patterson coming on in the third overtime after Steven Adams was fouled out Patterson came up with some crucial defensive plays on 76ers big man Joel Embiid. The 76ers bench finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four steals. The Thunders bench was fantastic and kept the Thunder in front when the starters went to the bench.

MINUS

Free throw shooting

This game went to three overtimes but it should have never left regulation time for many reasons but the main one is the Thunders free throw shooting. The Thunder shot 15-of-35 from the line at 42.9 percent. Alex Abrines and Carmelo Anthony were terrible at the line shooting 20 and 25 percent respectively but it was Russell Westbrook who missed free throws at crucial times in this game as he missed 2-of-5 for the game shooting at 40 percent from the line but he shot 1-of-4 at 25 percent in all of overtime and didn’t manage to get to the line in the fourth. The Thunder left a lot of points on the board in a game that ended up going to three overtimes.

Russ is 5-of-10 at the line and is 1-of-4 over his last two times at the line. — Thunder Digest (@ThunderDigest) December 16, 2017

Fourth quarter

The Thunder had a terrible fourth quarter scoring a total of 13 points in the fourth but it was the last five minutes that gave the 76ers the opportunity to get the score back to a tie and game and send it to overtime as the Thunder couldn’t manage a basket in the last five minutes of the game. The Thunder have struggled late in games but to not score in the last five minutes is not acceptable from a team with this much talent. Russell Westbrook shot 0-of-7 from the field in the fourth quarter while assisting only two times. Westbrook needs to keep moving the ball late in games and not just become a jump shooter.

The Thunder shot 5-of-23 from the field at 21.6 percent and didn’t get to the free throw line once which allowed the 76ers to come storming back as they shot 46.2 percent from the field and managed six trips to the line.

The Thunder have scored two points since the 5:35 marker of the fourth quarter. — Fred Katz (@FredKatz) December 16, 2017

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