OKC Thunder Best Reserve:
Honorable mentions go to Abdel Nader for his timely buckets in the first half, Hamidou Diallo for his play as the reserve point guard and Muscala for his late threes. However, no-one could take this honor from Darius Bazley.
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The rookie had his third game of 20 points or more in a row. He was crucial in the OKC Thunder comeback in the fourth quarter. He went 5-of-8 from deep on his way to 21 points. On top of this, he had nine rebounds and four assists.
The fourth assist was impressive. He had just hit two triples to help get the Thunder almost even. He then drove the ball in and kicked the ball out to the hot-handed Muscala who had hit a three to tie the score.
Sure enough, Muscala hit the next triple to give the Thunder the lead and it proved to be the game-winner.
Bazley is playing with such tremendous confidence at the moment and makes the second unit of the Thunder very potent, especially when Schroder comes back.
Best Opponent:
If the award for the best opponent was given after the first quarter, it would have gone to Duncan Robinson who was unstoppable from beyond the arc. He had 16 points at the end of the first, but only finished with 19 for the game.
Tyler Herro on the other hand had a career-high 30 points to go along with six rebounds and two assists. He was a perfect 9-of-9 from the line to go along with 9-of-16 from the floor and 3-of-6 from deep.
He was on the court for the Thunder comeback and was not able to stem the flow. He did hit some big shots but his potential game-winner was not a high percentage option.
In closing:
The OKC Thunder snatched a win out of the jaws of defeat. They showed that there is no quit in any player and most importantly they were able to rest their key players for a massive amount of game time.
The full box score can be viewed on ESPN by clicking here.
With the playoff seeding set, the OKC Thunder have a chance to rest their starters against the LA Clippers. This will keep them fresh for a first-round series with the Houston Rockets.