Preseason Thoughts: Thunder 100, Mavs 88

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TULSA — A couple very important things to note from the Thunder’s third preseason win:

It’s the third game. Rather, it’s the third preseason game. And while the first two showcased an impressive offensive flow, this one was more of a grind, with 22 turnovers and some pretty sloppy disjointed stuff. Some of it was just miscommunication or simply a missed shot, but it certainly felt like the spacing and timing was off some. Kevin Durant started just 1-9, but hit his final three shots to finish 4-12 with 10 points. Russell Westbrook was excellent, going for 19 on 8-13 shooting. They both played 20 minutes.

Enes Kanter got going with 17 and 11 in just 20 minutes. He did it largely catching the ball on the move and attacking, or cleaning up on the interior. He left the game in the second half with an ankle sprain. He had a slight limp in the locker room, but said he considered it minor.

Kanter noted postgame that his offensive role has changed some this season, going from a lot of post-ups to focusing a lot more playing in space. Naturally, he said he didn’t have a preference, but did say he expects to have a lot of post-up opportunities as it goes on and things settle in offensively.

Mitch McGary hit another corner 3. I can’t decide if this is a thing or just him happening to hit an open shot without him knowing he was behind the line.

Dion Waiters, fresh off being very proud of his free throw adjustment, went 1-4 from the line tonight. See, that’s the thing with making the move right: I can line up way left on the teebox, but that doesn’t fix my slice.

Cameron Payne was impressive in eight first half minutes. He hit two 3s and made some very smooth plays running the offense. You can see what a feel he has.

I would not read too much into Payne coming in before D.J. Augustin. It was clearly Donovan trying to get a look at Payne with some of the second unit guys. Augustin played most of the second half, dishing out eight assists in 20 minutes.

Westbrook was asked about his post-game again, and pushed back at this idea that it’s a new development: I’ve been posting up for the past three years. Doing it now and making some shots, maybe y’all just now noticed. But I’ve been doing it for a while.”

After Andre Roberson’s heave at the end of the first half that almost went in, who else made a “that was closer than most his 3-point attempts!” joke?

Here’s a bold prediction: I think Roberson is going to have a very solid season. His mechanics look improved to me and he’s much more confident putting the ball on the floor a and attacking off a catch.

Important moment: Right before the start of the second half, Rick Carlisle was smacking his lips together and digging in his pockets. Billy Donovan yelled across to him, “I’ve got some if you need it,” and pulled a tube of Carmex out of his pocket. Relevant to this story: Carlisle talked pregame about how the two played together in New York in 1988 and got to know each other well because neither played much.