Thunder run past the Kings, 131-116
Coming in, this game felt dangerous. There’s the fact the Kings are sneaky competitive on random nights, the fact DeMarcus Cousins can carry games on his own, and the fact the Thunder might be way hungover from not sleeping the last two nights with visions of Curry’s 40-footer haunting their dreams.
But after watching it, you left thinking, “Hey let’s not overreact here, because the Kings suck and they didn’t even really try.” So I’m not sure what this one was. A good win, or a ho-hum beatdown?
The numbers pop more than any other game this season. Kevin Durant had 27-10-6 in 32 minutes. Russell Westbrook tripled-doubled with the fewest number of shots in his career (20-13-15 on 6-8 shooting). Enes Kanter had 23 on 11-11 shooting in 25 minutes. Dion Waiters had 22 on 8-11 shooting in 32 minutes. Hell, even Kyle Singler had 11 and hit three 3-pointers.
Was this some sort of breakout game? Or more likely a blip on the radar and the benefit of playing a completely indifferent, dysfunctional team? Definitely the latter, but you have to credit the Thunder here to some degree, because they very easily could’ve dragged through this whole thing and found themselves in a dogfight to the buzzer. Instead, the opened it up to 10 going into the fourth, and then ran away with ease the first six minutes of the fourth.
Durant did that thing where he hits soul-crushing shots, Kanter kept scoring, and Waiters kept scoring. It was pretty straightforward, pretty simple, and pretty needed. Again, that Warriors game tore the Thunder up pretty good. And with this one in Sacramento feeling fairly trap-ish, they could’ve easily dumped it, and had a tough road back-to-back ahead against the Clippers and Warriors, which would’ve meant a four-game skid and seven of their last eight.
Now, at least they go into the Clippers game with momentum and better vibes. Winning two of three in California would be a very solid trip, with a winnable game ahead against the Bucks. The Thunder are going to regret those losses to the Pacers and Warriors for a while, but especially if it comes back to the point where they slip a seed, but for now, they look like they’re moving on.
NOTES:
- It was an excellent game from the Thunder bench. But here’s what we know: They’re not likely to produce that again on Wednesday. That’s been the problem this season. There are signs, shimmers of good bench play, but it’s woefully inconsistent and unreliable.
- So going back to the Pelicans game, Kanter’s made 17 straight shots. That’s pretty impressive.
- Per Basketball-Reference, just 18 games since 1983-84 of at least 11-11 shooting. Including former Thunder great and chair thrower Nenad Krstic.
- It ended up a solid win, but I wrote this note in the third quarter: The lack of focus they play with sometimes is just appalling. You can literally see them thinking, ‘Oh, it’s the Kings, we’re gonna win, what’s the big deal here.’ The indifference just drips off them. Eventually it paid off as they thought, with them outscoring the hapless Kings, but there were just too many times the focus wasn’t there. That’s the infuriating stuff you can get away with at times, but when it gets you, it’s real bad.
- I guess you can’t really blame Cousins for all his whining because man, that dude gets some calls.
- Once again: Kanter and Waiters had 45 on 19-22 shooting. And Donald Trump might be president. What is going on.
- I just don’t agree with benching Cameron Payne in favor of Randy Foye.
- So maybe Payne isn’t quite ready. Maybe they’re worried about how he’d hold up in the postseason. But not letting young players play through things stunts development. It’s what killed Jeremy Lamb in OKC.
- Why do you let other players play through things — cough, Dion Waiters, cough — but not a rookie?
- Now, I do like letting Durant have some of the backup point guard responsibility. But Payne has proven capable of playing off ball. I just wish this wasn’t so much a “you’re out” kind of thing and more of a matchup oriented thing, where Payne could slip in for Foye or Singler on any given night.
- Serge Ibaka has the right kind of energy tonight, but man, he had a rough one. Fumbled away a couple easy buckets and missed open shots. He had 12 points and seven rebounds, so again, he was helpful. But this should’ve been a better game for him.
- As good offensively as he was, Cousins just killed Kanter. And Adams, for that matter. And Ibaka. At one point, I thought maybe just throw Westbrook on him because at least Russ would put up a fight.
- I have no idea what Rajon Rondo was doing before halftime, but he got called for back-to-back delay of games, resulting in two free throws for OKC. He basically just wouldn’t take the ball and inbound it with 1.5 seconds left.
- In total, the Kings handed OKC five points between delay of games and technicals. They’re a dumb team.
- Singler showed up and did some things. He hit three 3s, played decent defense against Omri Casspi in the Kings’ smallball unit, and even got an assist. Career-night.
Next up: At the Clippers on Wednesday
