Preseason Thoughts: Thunder 111, Nuggets 98
A few scattered thoughts from the Thunder’s second-to-last preseason game:
- First: Kevin Durant looked really, really, really, really good tonight. He looked like, well, Kevin Durant. Any shot he wanted, any time he wanted it, attacking aggressively, pulling up, active defensively, rebounding, creating.
- Second: Russell Westbrook also looked very, very, very, very good.
- Third: Dion Waiters also looked pretty, very, kind of, really good. He has for most of the preseason. Maybe it’s just a Preseason Dion kind of thing, or a Contract Push Dion kind of thing. But again, a stellar performance — 17 points on 7-13 shooting, four rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes. Under control, making (mostly) good choices and staying aggressive without hogging. One play stood out: In semi-transition, Waiters had a reasonably open long 2 he could’ve taken, but instead fired a great pass to a cutting Kyle Singler for an and-1 layup.
- So, one of the more entertaining pregame locker room scenes I’ve ever seen: D.J. Augustin and Dez Wells came in and immediately were looking for Josh Huestis. There was apparently a discussion going on about a bet (for pizzas, I’m sure) during some pregame shooting. The way I understood it, Augustin was $200 up and bet Wells double-or-nothing, and Wells hit the shot. There’s more to this, because apparently it was very confusing, but eventually, basically the entire locker room was involved in the math problem with plenty of (friendly, laughing) debate about who owed who what. I think the end game was nobody ended up owing anybody, but it sure was fun watching them come to this conclusion.
- If this was a glimpse into the rotation, here’s what we learned: Same starters as last season, with some staggering of Westbrook and Durant, no Cameron Payne, some Durant at the 4, Roberson around 15 minutes, and not much Kyle Singler. Of course, Steven Adams got poked in the eye and didn’t play much in the second half and no Mitch McGary, and things are obviously going to evolve over time, but at least that’s what we know so far.
- Saw an array of new sets — 3 loop, baseline, 13. All emphasized a lot of actions, especially away from the ball, and plenty of misdirection.
- Somehow, Serge Ibaka is becoming a bit of a forgotten man, it seems. Had 18 on 7-8 shooting in 32 minutes, and just didn’t seem that notable. He’s been quietly excellent this preseason.
- It really didn’t even feel like Enes Kanter played very well, and yet he had a double-double (18 and 11) in 26 minutes. He’s just a devastating force on the offensive glass.
- Westbrook played for the first time this preseason without Durant.
- Mildly interesting thing in the first quarter: The Thunder were in mid-transition with Westbrook handling on the right wing about to pick-and-roll with Ibaka. Durant was near the top of the key, and Billy Donovan yelled, “Space Kevin! Space!” Durant, not realizing he’d wandered too close to Westbrook, snapped his head and immediately took two big steps to his left, creating room for Ibaka to go to work in the left mid-post. It was just interesting to me because you assume Kevin Durant is going to realize where he’s at on the floor at all times, but clearly, at least in this case, he wasn’t aware that he’d meandered too close to Westbrook and Donovan saw it right away. You have to wonder if that’s one of those habit things that hadn’t really been pounded into these guys the last seven years or so.
- Important take: This team is going to be reallllllllllly good offensively.
