OKC Thunder: 3 takeaways in Svi Mykhailiuk’s big game over the Raptors
By Ryan Lewis
OKC Thunder takeaway No. 2) Take a bow, Svi
If you had any doubts about why the OKC Thunder would acquire Mykhailiuk, those doubts are probably disappearing and rapidly.
Mykhailiuk’s introduction to the Thunder faithful wasn’t awful by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly left something to be desired.
After finishing with no points in 16 minutes during his Thunder debut, Mykhailiuk scored 15 against Houston and 10 against Minnesota. Then came a two-game stretch in which he finished 3-for-10 against Memphis and 2-for-11 against Boston. It quickly began to appear as if he would be an occasional playmaker for the Thunder but nothing to write home about.
But that changed against Dallas when Mykhailiuk found his comfort zone with the Thunder and scored 16 points on 70 percent shooting. That upward trend continued against the Raptors when Mykhailiuk scored 22 points on 64.3 percent shooting, including a 4-for-8 performance from deep.
However, Mykhailiuk proved he is more than just a scoring option for the Thunder as he also finished with nine rebounds and two blocks in the game. His emergence as a threat for the Thunder will undoubtedly be tested in the games to come as head coach Mark Daigneault looks to give more responsibilities to some of the lesser-known Thunder players.
In seven games with the Thunder, Mykhailiuk is averaging 10.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 47.6 percent from the field. As he becomes more comfortable with the Thunder, those numbers will continue to climb.