Russell Westbrook scores 33rd Triple-Double; Brook Lopez and Jeremy Lin score 25 and 24 points respectively; Nets Caris LeVert has one of his best games

The New York City area was hit with some snow yesterday, but there was also a presence of thunder, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Smartly, Russell Westbrook and his team came to town ahead of the snowstorm to take on the Brooklyn Nets.

Even though the weather was less than ideal, fans filed into the stadium to give the Nets a boost.

So, how would the hometown team handle the walking triple-double Westbrook and his comrades? The fans were treated to a healthy dose of Linsanity right from the start as Jeremy Lin used his quickness and ball handling skills to blow by his defender going into the paint either for the score or pass to an open teammate. The Oklahoma City Thunder quickly pushed the ball up the court after Nets’ misses and Brooklyn struggled at times with their transition defense giving the Thunder easy baskets.

The game was back and forth for the first half. Oklahoma City enjoyed a ten-point cushion in the second quarter but it was cut in half after buckets by Lin and Brook Lopez. The Nets battled, erased the deficit and the game was tied at 62 at the end of the half. At the start of the third quarter, the Nets’ shooting started matching the weather outside, cold. The Thunder took advantage of Brooklyn’s shooting woes jumping to a double-digit lead. Once the Thunder gained the lead, they never relinquished it.

When asked what was the turning point for his team in the third quarter, Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson stated, “I think their physicality wore us down…they came out and really got after us and we couldn’t really run our stuff.”

With a little less than five minutes left in the game, the crowd roared. The irony was the cheers weren’t for the Nets but rather for Westbrook who continued his historic run by recording his 33rd triple-double of the season.

The moment caught Westbrook off-guard, as he later recalled thinking, “maybe they was, you know, giving something out in the crowd or something.”

Nope. Brooklynites know good basketball and basketball fans showed their appreciation for what they were witnessing up-close and personal.

Nets rookie Caris Levert had one of his best games of the season notching 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and a career-high-tying three steals (done twice previously) in 23 minutes against OKC.

Lopez and Lin scored 25 and 24 points respectively. After strong performances over the past few games, the bench fell short during the contest by scoring a total of 20 points.