Thunder figure out a way in Denver, 110-104
It’s strange for a Thunder game that featured 30 assists to feel somewhat sloppy, disjointed and ugly. Because 30-assist games don’t happen all that often for them.
And they only turned it over 13 times. So I don’t know why this doesn’t get the “impressive” stamp on it, but by the final buzzer, it felt more like the Thunder figured out a way to hold on rather than outplaying an inferior team.
Still: That’s a good win, whichever way your feelings want to classify it. The Nuggets are getting healthier, have always been good at home, and seem to have a knack for pushing good teams. The first game of back-to-backs can often be sneaky tough, especially on the road, because you catch yourself glancing ahead a bit and thinking about saving a little in the tank.
And in the first half, there was a tad of a malaise there. The Thunder fell in a 12-point hole early, but dug out to lead by four at half. A decent third quarter had OKC up five headed to the fourth, and in a bit of a back-and-forth hold-em-off kind of thing, the Thunder did enough, largely with free throws and offensive rebounding, to put away the Nuggets.
Maybe the reason it feels like the 30 assists weren’t pretty was because the Thunder didn’t actually shoot the ball that well. They were just 42.3 percent from the field, and hit a poor 6-28 from 3. Kevin Durant was just 10-23 shooting, Russell Westbrook only 10-22, Serge Ibaka 2-8, Dion Waiters 2-8. Most of those assists were passes that led to dunks and layups, which is, you know, good.
It felt like this was the kind of game begging for a Durant dagger, and he finally hit what appeared to be one late in the fourth, a 3 from the top of the key with a couple minutes left. But the Nuggets kept nudging their way back, and it required a couple stops and some free throws to end it.
Durant (30-12-4) and Westbrook (27-5-12) were the primary producers, but Enes Kanter starred in this one. In 25 minutes, he put up 25 points (on 10-14) and eight rebounds. And had a number of critical plays in the fourth quarter starting with him sparking the second unit early with two transition buckets, then some free throws later on.
Not to go into a whole thing on Kanter, but tonight was good evidence of what a luxury he can be. This was a matchup he was especially effective in, so Donovan played him. And when that happens, Kanter can be an X-factor in any given game. Other nights where it’s a lot of smallball or the matchup doesn’t fit, he might play 15 minutes and be a footnote. Seeing as he’s bought into this role, and it’s been good for OKC, it really doesn’t matter what they’re paying him.
So, anyway, that’s 20 of their last 24 now. From 11-8 to 31-12. Not bad.
NOTES:
- Billy Donovan has made a subtle adjustment the past week or two, basically playing Kanter as his backup power forward, along as being the backup 5. It’s allowing more minutes for Kanter, and resulting in some staggered lineups with Kanter playing alongside both Ibaka and Steven Adams.
- The “staggering” word often gets applied to Westbrook and Durant, but Donovan is smartly staggering his starters, particularly Westbrook, Durant, Ibaka and Adams, getting them minutes with the second unit. Because still, those all bench units haven’t been very good, even since making the transition to Cameron Payne. But get a starter on the floor with them, and it improves a lot.
- Payne has improved the all-bench group… slightly. It’s better offensively, by about six points per 100. But it’s been the same defensively. Donovan is searching for something to improve that second unit, and with Payne sort of injecting a little offensive life to it, he’s gone to Kyle Singler to try and help defensively. (Because most Singler lineups are pretty solid defensively.)
- That foul from Westbrook with 1:26 left was just epically dumb. Allowed the Nuggets to cut it to four, with a foul some 90 feet from the basket.
- Before tonight, since Durant returned on Nov. 23, OKC’s starting five has a net +22.9 rating in almost 400 minutes. Lineup has just been ridiculous. I point this out because it wasn’t great tonight, as evidenced by Andre Roberson’s -16 in 14 minutes. Most of that had to do with that 12-point deficit in the first quarter, though.
- Bad shooting night for Cameron Payne. He missed back-to-back 3s that had a dagger feel to them. Shot 0-9, and 0-6 from 3, but did chip in nicely with four rebounds, six assists and four steals.
- I’m just saying this off of feel, but has Westbrook not shot the ball well for like, a month or so? I’m talking midrange mostly.
- For as slow as he is, Enes Kanter runs the floor exceptionally well. I think the biggest key to it is that he runs. Like, that’s it. He just runs the floor, whereas so many other guys stand and watch.
- Since the 2012-13 season, the Thunder have had 10 games with at least 30 assists. They’ve had four this season in 43 games.
- Oh, or this: Since relocating from Seattle, the Thunder had 15 games of 30 or more assists. Four this season in 43 games. The changes under Donovan haven’t been overwhelming obvious, but if you can see there finer points of it, you’re not paying attention.
- Dion Waiters had been shooting it better, but did not carry that on to Denver. Just 2-10 for five points, but he did hit a nice corner 3 set up on an absurd Westbrook pass in the third.
- The Thunder adjusted a bit on Danilo Gallinari in the second half, because he had 20 in the first (seven in the second), but it seemed like Denver didn’t look to him enough late.
- OKC’s now 9-1 against the Northwest Division, and have a 12-game lead. That’s kind of nuts.
Next up: Home against the Hornets on Wednesday