Undermanned OKC Thunder roar back to beat Rockets – player grades

It was a given Terrance Ferguson might not be in the lineup given he’d missed the previous game due to illness. What wasn’t a given is Luguentz Dort would get the tap to start.

While it might have been considered an odd choice with Hamidou Diallo and Darius Bazley available it had merit given the defensive chops of Dort. This kept Hami and Bazley available to create offense with the reserve unit and put a dedicated lockdown defender on Harden.

Billy Donovan ended up looking like a genius in hindsight as Dort made life miserable for Harden who had yet another poor shooting performance. What made the rookie’s showing so impressive was he didn’t get lured into taking dumb fouls off the master at getting to the line. Harden shot 1 of 17 (read that again) from deep and much of the credit for the anemic output by the bearded man goes to Dort.

In 32 minutes the Canadian collected eight points, two rebounds, and two assists. But those are just the sprinkles on top of that defensive sundae by the youngster.

After Adams was unceremoniously sent packing the pressure for Danilo Gallinari to fulfill a lot upfront was on and did he ever deliver!

Generally Gallo chips in on the boards but without the Big Kiwi’s services, it meant he had to do more — and he did. He grabbed 13 rebounds (five offensive) to pair with his 25 points for the double-double adding a steal. His four 3-pointers were crucial to the team’s comeback and the fear he instilled in the opponent was obvious as the Rockets were so worried about him it opened up the driving lanes and opportunities to the guards.

I’ll just insert my ongoing mantra to Sam Presti here “please find a way to keep Gallo, Sam”

Steven Adams only got two minutes under his belt before Clint Capela flew in seemingly looking to take the Thunder big man out of the play from grabbing the rebound.

Granted the Houston announcers would have you believing Adams undercut Capela which would be a great feat given he was FACING THE BASKET.

Look I get that we all have our favorites and subsequent biases (just ask Celtics Tommy Heinsohn) but that was inappropriate journalism from the Rockets crew for the youngsters who listen to them. There is a reason why Capela received a flagrant foul and it’s because HE MADE NO PLAY ON THE BALL and didn’t ever intend to – his intention was to solely take Adams out of the play. Did he intend to hurt Adams — I doubt it but that’s what happened.