OKC Thunder learn valuable lessons after 107-70 pummeling by Mavericks

Diallo and TFerg underwhelm:

As for the youngsters, it was disappointing Hamidou Diallo and Terrance Ferguson didn’t make more of their minutes. These games, in particular, are opportunities for the youngsters to make a statement and force Billy Donovan’s hand.

Instead, both wings had subpar games and although every player has an off shooting night the bigger concern was they lacked attention to details.  They weren’t cutting and moving nor were they locking down defensively.

Repeatedly they tried to make last ditch efforts to block shots or garner steals. As players who’ve been with the Thunder for a full season (two in TFerg’s case), they need to take a leadership role so the other young guys have an example to follow.

In the vein of its only one game — we’ll hope this is an outlier but repeated efforts like this will open the door for others to step through so Diallo and TFerg need to be cognizant that every minute and every play set matters.