By Phillip Petty III, sophomore at St. Augustine High School
Coming into Wednesday’s game between two great point guards on the teams of New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder which are Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday. Both point guards are second on their teams in scoring and first in assists. Russell Westbrook averages 22.1 PPG and 10.2 assists per game, while Jrue Holiday is averaging 20.5 PPG and 8.8 assists. Certainly this was a great game at the point guard position.
In the first half of the game, Jrue Holiday got off to a good start, scoring 14 points and dishing off five assists. Holiday displayed his acrobatic moves by making some tough layups. He demonstrated his talents both offensively and defensively. He held Russell Westbrook to 3 points and shooting only 25% along with 5 assists. Westbrook was struggling to get shots up and making his shots because Holiday was so stout on defense and did a good job on Westbrook. He also forced Westbrook to turn the ball over five times.
Russell Westbrook gets ready to shoot two free throw attempts. Photo by Phillip Petty III
Early in the second half Westbrook picked up a technical foul showing his frustration as he continued to struggle shooting the ball. However after the technical foul Westbrook improved from his first half performance. In the second half of the game Westbrook scored 17 points being able to find more open shots than the first half. In the first half Holiday played great defense on Westbrook. But in the second half the roles were reversed, where Westbrook was playing good defense on Holiday. Holiday was held to six points and was contested on all of his shot attempts. Westbrook had two emphatic blocks in the second half.
It was two good performances by the two guards on Wednesday night. Holiday finished with 20 points and 10 assists. Westbrook finished with 20 points and 7 assists. At the end of the game the Pelicans won the game 114-118. As for the next matchup for the Thunder, they will travel to Denver and face off with a red hot Nuggets team which are 18-9 and are currently in the number one spot in the western conference. As for the Pelicans, they will welcome Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat into town. If you didn’t know, that game on Sunday will be Dwayne Wade’s final game in the Smoothie King Center as he has announced he will retire after this season.