OKC Thunder: 3 takeaways on the Thunder’s big win over the Blazers
By Ryan Lewis
OKC Thunder takeaway No. 2) Bench came up big for Thunder in win
The Thunder’s starting lineup on Monday was one of the youngest in NBA history.
With Gilgeous-Alexander, Theo Maledon, Dort, Bazley, and Isaiah Roby starting for OKC, that left Muscala, Hamidou Diallo, Aleksej Pokusevski, Kenrich Williams and Justin Jackson coming off the bench.
And the bench did their part exceptionally well.
Most of the focus is on the starting lineup and rightfully so, but if not for the surge from Gilgeous-Alexander, it would have been Muscala who stole the show.
Muscala put up 23 points in the game and he did it in just 20 minutes.
The majority of his points came from 3-point range with him knocking down 6-of-10 attempts. He led the charge off the bench.
Collectively, the group scored 53 of the Thunder’s 125 points on 55 percent shooting.
Diallo scored 11 points in the game, Williams had seven, and Jackson and Pokusevski each had six.
With the bench playing as well as it did, the Thunder were able to keep their foot on the gas when the starters sat down for a break. It kept the game from getting out of hand in Portland’s favor and gave the Thunder an opportunity to pull off a quality win.