OKC Thunder: 5 Takeaways following OKC’s victory over the Washington Wizards

Second Unit Blitz

After struggling for the past two years with a sub-par second unit, Oklahoma City’s bench have emerged as one of the teams strengths and they dominated Washington once they checked in.

OKC’s bench outscored Washington 48-32 on 42.9 percent shooting and 35.3 percent from 3-point range while holding the Wiz to 35.1 percent shooting and 15.4 percent from three. With the game tied at 30-a piece, the Thunder bench checked in and immediately went on a run.

From the 2:45 minute mark of the first quarter to 6:41 mark of the second period, Oklahoma City outscored Washington 19-7, playing with energy, effort and ball movement.

In the clip below, Noel saves the ball from going out of bounds and finds a cutting PG13. Schroder relocates to the perimeter and George throws a beautiful pass to the German for a wide open triple.

Or the busted last second play which saw Patterson find a moving Abrines in the corner for the deep two.

Three things stand out on this play:

• Great shot clock awareness by Patterson and Abrines
• The Spaniard relocating to the corner looking to take the last second shot
• 2-Pat finding the better shooter rather than jacking a shot up on the move

OKC’s bench unit continues to produce and bring energy when the starters sit.  The Thunder bench provided the springboard necessary to blow the game wide open.