Thunder get back on track against Phoenix, 124-103

BOX SCORE

The Thunder aren’t going to end the season on a 79-game losing streak. They beat the Suns fairly convincingly, despite some unseemly slips by the second unit, to right things and feel a lot better about things.

“We need to go through these times,” Kevin Durant said. “It’s vital for our success. It’s vital for our growth. We need go through it. It’s not good going through it, it’s not fun, but we need to. New system, new lineups, different time, we need to go through rough patches. You can definitely win games not playing well, but for us to lose games, it definitely helps us out. We just need to keep building.”

Even within this game itself, there was that kind of adversity the team responded to. The starters built a 27-12 lead, but after an interesting sub by Billy Donovan that included Mitch McGary’s first rotation minutes of the season, a lineup featuring D.J. Augustin, Dion Waiters, Kyle Singler, McGary and Enes Kanter promptly blew the lead and let the Suns finish the first on a 17-2 run.

Donovan was clearly trying something with his second unit, part in a matchup specifically with the Suns, but also in working to develop this team’s depth. It’s hard not to isolate yourself in the moment and only consider the game that’s presently being played, but it’s important to remember the Thunder have an eye on April, not November. And that includes developing and growing outside of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and the only way to really accomplish that is through a little old fashioned trial and error.

“Certainly, trying to get into a rotation is important. I think also trying to give those guys confidence coming in there,” Donovan said. “Kevin and Russell and Serge, those three guys in particular, they’ve obviously been here a while and experienced a lot of success. But we need to continue to build the group around them. I think that’s really, really important. There are going to be times where have some dips like we had in that first quarter, but we’re going to have to play through that because we’ve got to build the entire team.

“I don’t think as coach with your team want to say we’re locked in and we’re never changing and this is who we want to be the rest of the year because things can change,” he said. “You get foul trouble, you get injuries, you have different things you have to deal with. I think all our guys need to be prepared and ready to play and made to feel important. I think that’s one of the things I’ve tried to do at least these first five or six games is try and keep everyone engaged.”

That second unit came back and produced in a more positive way to finish the third quarter and begin the fourth, before the starters re-entered to polish off a solid win. Durant was great (32 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes), Westbrook was excellent (21 points, 13 assists an four steals) and the bench was very fine, led by Dion Waiters (19 on 6-9 shooting) an Enes Kanter (21 on 9-10). It was a blueprint kind of win, and one that helps the team move on from an unseemly three-game losing streak. Now, the question is, is it two steps forward and another back? Or do they start pressing on ahead to something better from here?

NOTES:

• I think it’s entirely unreasonable to expect Donovan to transform the Thunder without some trial and error. I’ve been getting  a lot of tweets and emails wondering where the fixes are, asking what Donovan is doing. Some of it isn’t looking great at times, but that’s kind of the point with a new coach.

• Turnovers are trending in the right direction. After the solid performance against Chicago in that area, just 15 tonight.

• Westbrook’s dunk, you guys. It’s all about the slow motion of it. Watch that. Over and over again.

• Westbrook on how he decides when he wants to be a crazy person, and when he just wants to make sure of two points: “I don’t know. I just go for it, I guess. I don’t think, I just go. That’s half of my problem.”

• Durant hit a filthy Dirk over Eric Bledsoe late in the fourth and had a good little exchange with him after it. “E-Bled talks a lot of sh–. “And I’m a major sh–talker myself.”

• One thing you can’t say about Kanter anymore is that he’s not trying. He played extremely hard tonight. Diving on the floor, sprinting back for a chasedown block attempt, hustling in transition. Working.

• This was the Thunder’s first ever time in the OKC-era they’ve had two players score at least 19 off the bench.

• I think there could be something there in a Waiters-Kanter pick-and-roll. Part of that will depend on if Waiters consistently attacks the paint of them and, you know, is a willing passer.

• Kyle Singler has played about as good as his haircut looks.

• Saw a really interesting question on Twitter: Would you rather have Dion Waiters or Kobe Bryant for the rest of the season?

• Roberson was really solid in a difficult matchup. And here’s what I’ve seen from him the last few games: He’s growing in areas offensively that make a bigger impact. Not just in shooting, because whatever with that, but smarter cuts, more activity on the glass, aggressiveness in transition and etcetera. Little stuff that makes a stronger influence on things, rather than just chilling in a corner waiting to airball or not airball.

• Did Markieff Morris lose all his swag after his brother got traded? So much less talking from him tonight

• Never would’ve thought when we were all discussing rotations and playing time over the summer that Anthony Morrow might be the odd man out.

• Donovan said he talked to Morrow pregame about him not playing tonight. The explanation was with Phoenix’s two-guard backcourt, and the fact Donovan wasn’t overly concerned about needing extra offense, that he went another direction. So again, supposedly this was matchup based. But it’s without question Donovan appears to prefer Waiters first, then Singler.

• McGary got some time. And had three fouls in a minute. Donovan talked about McGary’s lack of minutes on Saturday, noting that because of his concussion he had some catching up to do.

• If you’re into that one-game sample size kind of thing, the Westbrook, Waiters, Durant, Ibaka, Kanter lineup was a net +105.1 tonight in seven minutes. That’s right, a net +105.1. Offensive rating of 195.8, defensive of 90.7. But then again, that doesn’t exactly fit any narratives, so nevermind.

Next up: At the Wizards on Tuesday