Thunder ease past the Hornets, 109-90

Royce Young -

BOX SCORE

In the opening minutes, the Thunder were up 13-2, then it was 21-6, then it was 30-15. It was pretty apparent from there how this one was going to play out.

The Hornets made a few runs, at one point getting it to 66-62 early in the third, but the Thunder re-focused, reset and retook command of the game from there. It was largely another very positive performance from the second unit that did it, with the all-five bench group opening the fourth quarter with an 88-76 lead, and pushed it not just to 15 at 100-85 with 6:45 remaining before Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook returned, but that also bought almost six minutes too. It seemed reasonable for Donovan to try and let the second unit to close it out, but Durant and Westbrook pushed it to 105-86 before sitting for good with 3:12 left.

There are some caveats on this one, though. The Hornets played last night and are missing some key pieces. That certainly influenced proceedings, but at the same time, those type of justifications aren’t often invoked in the opposite direction when OKC plays poorly.

The takeaways are this:

1) The Thunder’s fourth quarter defense was excellent, holding the Hornets to 14 points and without a basket for almost seven minutes.

2) Guarding Kevin Durant with a combination of P.J. Hairston and Jeremy Lamb is not very effective.

3) In a game that looked to maybe be the most difficult in the next month, the Thunder coasted.

4) Cameron Payne good. Real good. The impact he’s had for the second unit is obvious, and has changed the way the Thunder are playing.

Again, this was the game maybe the Thunder tripped over in the upcoming weeks. Or at least the one most likely to do it. Because what’s going to be interesting to watch is how well they take care of business. Looking at the schedule, they should be favored in their next 17 games before they play the Warriors. Not saying they should roll to a 21-game streak, because the occasional off night is going to happen, but to really establish some credibility as an upper tier contender, I think 15 of the next 17 should be the goal.

NOTES:

  • Another nicely balanced game: Durant had 29, but on just 13 shots. Westbrook 16. Ibaka 14. Kanter and Morrow with 12. Waiters 10. Adams and Payne eight.
  • One of the biggest things Payne does for the second unit is the floor is moving, and the defense is rotating and helping. The player benefitting most from that: Anthony Morrow. Not only is he getting shots now, but they’re open too.
  • Am I just a little bit bitter about Payne playing so well since I had a Donovan-needs-to-play-Payne column that was already written and going to run on Monday and then Donovan played him on Sunday? Yeah, a little bit. I don’t get many chances to look smart, and that was a missed opportunity.
  • Before he sat Westbrook and Durant for good, Donovan gave a little look at a Payne-Westbrook backcourt in the fourth.
  • Dion Waiters played the way he needs to. One play stood out to me in particular: In the third, he could’ve taken an open midrange early clock jumper from about 16 feet. Instead, he turned it down, probed the paint, then drove it hard and found a diving Enes Kanter for a layup. Waiters had a season-high five assists and while he shot just 4-10 and had 10 points, it was one of his more effective games. That’s the kind of player he needs to be. Because the defense, it’s not bad. But when he can add in being a smart shot taker and quality creator, he has a chance to make an actual impact.
  • Alas, these are things that have been written about Waiters going on four years now.
  • The Hornets only turned it over four times. That’s pretty good. And means OKC’s halfcourt offense was really good.
  • It was brief, but we saw a lineup featuring KD at center in the first half — Westbrook, Waiters, Morrow, Singler and Durant.
  • Kyle Singler has turned into an assist machine. Another one tonight. That’s like, six on the season.
  • Serge Ibaka hit 10-10 from the line in the first half. That’s a career-high in makes.
  • Mitch McGary saw his first playing time in more than a month. Just three minutes of garbage time.
  • Black shoes and socks improves the white uniforms like 75 percent. Do that all the time, please.

Next up: Home against the Kings on Monday