Thunderous Intentions
Fansided

Grading the Oklahoma City Thunder after narrowly beating Melbourne United

By Matthew Hallett

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - OCTOBER 8: Russell Westbrook #0 of the OKC Thunder and Casey Prather #23 of Melbourne United in the first half a NBA preseason game at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on October 8, 2017 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - OCTOBER 8: Russell Westbrook #0 of the OKC Thunder and Casey Prather #23 of Melbourne United in the first half a NBA preseason game at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on October 8, 2017 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images) /
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – OCTOBER 8: Josh Huestis #34 of the OKC Thunder with his teammates celebrate a win against the Melbourne United during the preseason game on October 8, 2017 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – OCTOBER 8: Josh Huestis #34 of the OKC Thunder with his teammates celebrate a win against the Melbourne United during the preseason game on October 8, 2017 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Best Reserve

JOSH HUESTIS. B-. . SF. Oklahoma City Thunder

In a surprise, Billy Donovan did not use his bench as much as expected. This was in large part due to the fact of Melbourne United not going away at all. This grade would have been a whole lot worse except for the final 20 seconds of play. For those who missed it, Huestis blocked two United shots to seal the game for the Thunder.

Huestis only had two points and two rebounds, but four blocked shots. As I said earlier, he may have found a spot in the rotation based on those two final blocks.

Best Opponent

Normally in a pre-season game against international competition it is easy to give out the best opponent. Normally there is one star, while the role players fill out the rest of the stats. In a one point game however, there were lots of United players who could get the nod here.

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With that being said, Casper Ware was the best player for United. His 20 points, six rebounds and three assists all came at the right time. He was 6-13 from deep and a pest to Westbrook all night. The way he played had me wondering if he was auditioning for the third point guard spot. Is his contract worth the buyout?

Closing thoughts

In a game which could have been a blowout, Melbourne United showed why they are going to be at the top of the NBL this season. The hustle and trapping defense was good from the visitors but in the end the OKC Thunder were simply too good.

For the full box score visit ESPN link here.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Tony Heim’s famous 5 takeaways. Next up for the OKC Thunder the team travels to Denver to face the Nuggets at 9 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT) Tuesday.

In addition you can view the post game grades and 5 takeaways from the previous game versus the New Orleans pelicans.

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