By Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder take down the Orlando Magic 112-105 Monday night in Oklahoma City. The Thunder got off to a slow start, which allowed the Magic to get hot in the first quarter. The Magic jumped out to a 11 point first half lead before OKC made a rally in the third quarter, leading to the Thunder taking the lead and never surrendering it back. While any win is good and needed, the Thunder did it in less than impressive fashion. The Thunder showed little urgency in the game and really looked putrid at time on defense, especially in the first half. But the Thunder got the win and that’s all that matters. Here are tonight’s five observations.
1. The Bench to the Rescue
The Thunder bench saved OKC. The Thunder reserves scored 48 points combined, which is normally a huge lift on any night, but especially in this one where Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony were only able to muster 17 points between them. Raymond Felton lead the way with 13 points on 5-7 shooting and he hit all three of his three’s. Alex Abrines played his tail off, even making a few defensive plays, highlighted by a enfactic block on Mario Hezonja. Abrines scored 12 points, but only went 2-7 from three. He did a nice job in other ways, even scoring on a back cut alley-oop, a la Andre Roberson. Patrick Patterson played one of his most complete games, scoring 11 points on a perfect 4-4 shooting, including two three’s. Jerami Grant scored eight of his 10 in the second half. The Thunder really pulled away from the Magic in the third quarter in large part to the bench unit. Maybe the second unit can get things going down the stretch.
2. PG Bounces Back
After a miserable offensive night against Golden State, Paul George bounced back with 26 points and eight rebounds. PG did a good job of driving to the basket and finishing in through contact. PG didn’t shoot it great, going 9-20 from the floor, which isn’t bad, but he had a tough time finding his shot from three. He only connected on two of his seven attempts from deep. PG did a nice job in the second half, carrying the scoring load. George scored 16 of his 26 in the second half.
3. Russ’ Shooting Woes Continue
Russ seemed to be in a better flow tonight as he dished out 11 assists. He did a nice job on the boards too, as he brought down 12 rebounds. Typically with those two numbers, you’d figure Russ would have notched another triple-double. But, Russ did not. He scored just eight points on 3-12 shooting and he misses his only three point attempt. Russ had good moments, but he mixed in lots of bad. He had seven turnovers in the game. He had a nonchalant attitude at times and that lead to lots of his sloppy turnovers. I think at times Russ’ nonchalant attitude ends up being adopted by the team and you see the team play down to the competition, like the Thunder did tonight.
4. 3 Point Defense Still an Issue
The Magic jumped out on the Thunder early due to their hot three point shooting. The Magic got off to a 6-8 start from three. OKC was killed by the pick-and-pop game with Nikola Vucevic, who scored 11 points in the opening frame and connected on all three of his three point attempts. That really killed the Thunder, who allowed the Magic to score 38 points in the first quarter. That defense isn’t going to cut it if the Thunder want to make the playoffs or improve their positioning in the Western Conference standings. The Magic finished shooting 12-29 from three in the game.
5. Standings Update
The Thunder are currently sitting in 7th place in the West, as they are tied with Portland (6th) and New Orleans (5th). The Thunder have losing records to both the Trailblazers and the Pelicans. OKC is still within two games of the third seed and a game-and-a-half back of the fourth seed. OKC does have a little breathing room as the Rockets were able to defeat the Jazz in Salt Lake City. The Jazz (10th) are now three-and-a-half games back of OKC and the Thunder hold a two game lead on the Clippers (9th). OKC holds a full game lead on the Nuggets (8th).
The Thunder improve their season record to 35-27 and are back in action on Wednesday night against the Mavs. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. inside the American Airlines Center.
