Player grades from the Thunder’s final preseason game

The starting lineup

Russ set the tone early in tonight’s game. When the Thunder struggled to get going on offense the reigning MVP took over, scoring 14 points on 6-8 shooting. Once his shot started falling the defensive focus grew on him, allowing for the rest of the offense to settle in to open shots.

Westbrook was obviously feeling it but he only took 5 shots the rest of the game. He turned into an old-school point guard, though, focusing on setting up an offense and distributing to his offensive weapons. The Thunder outscored Denver by 18 when Russ was on the court – I think he’s enjoying having these new teammates of his.

This is one of those games you have to look at Roberson’s opponent’s statline to see how the defensive specialist played. Gary Harris, Denver’s new $84 million man, scored 11 points on 3-10 shooting. He didn’t record a rebound or an assist – Andre shut down Harris as a factor in tonight’s game.

He finished with 2 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, completing Roberson’s typical glue guy performance.

Paul George is settling into Billy Donovan’s offense. George was the spearhead of the Thunder’s second half offensive attack. Whether he was coming off screens or Josh Huestis partnered with him for a pick & pop, George’s shooting opened up the Oklahoma City attack.

On defense he was like a safety patrolling the back end. Guarding Wilson Chandler afforded George more opportunities to create turnovers, and that’s what he did. His five steals was a main reason why OKC scored 27 points off Denver turnovers.

If the shot was falling Carmelo would have aced this test. But sadly the shot isn’t there every night. The good news is that didn’t stop Melo from working his tail off on the other side of the ball.

Melo did a great job guarding All-Star power forward Paul Millsap all night. Millsap went 2-8 from the field and was outrebounded by the once small forward. Even when the defense broke down Melo was on time getting to the help side or switching onto a new man, a sign that the defensive cohesion is already starting to work itself out.

When I say Steven Adams is going to have a monster year I mean Steven Adams is going to have a monster year. Don’t analyze the Big Kiwi by his counting numbers – Adams value goes far beyond that. His mere presence down low, coupled by the fact he can handle guards on any given possession, gives the Thunder an advantage few other teams have in the league.

Adams held Nikola Jokic, one of the most efficient players in the game, to 5-16 shooting with 3 assists and 3 turnovers. Jokic’s +/- finished at -12, but the Thunder outscored Denver by 18 when Adams was on the court. Adams’ improvement is vital for OKC to reach their full potential. If the preseason is any indicator the Big Kiwi is doing everything on his end.