The visiting Thunder lost to the Warriors 82-103. All around, it was not a good performance from anyone. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the leading scorer for the club at 15 points, although he did it inefficiently. Darius Bazley also struggled from the field, going for only five points. Despite the all-around horrendous game, a couple of players finally showed out.
Finally, Pokusevski got something going this game. He didn’t have the best game, but he did have a serviceable line: seven points, nine rebounds, one steal on 2/4 shooting, 1/3 threes and 2/2 made free throws. The minutes were also there, kind of, at 19 total minutes. The problem that Poku is facing is the lack of minutes available for the frontcourt. If he continues to show some promise, he can hopefully carve out a sixth man role for the club but Coach Daignault makes it hard for everyone. His rotations are a mess so it’s hard to tell how Poku’s future role will look. Hopefully, he can get more playing time.
Giddey had yet another great performance against the home team Warriors. He put up 10 points, four rebounds, six assists, a steal and one block. He had just two turnovers and but shot just 5/11 from the field including 0/2 from three and 0/1 from the line. Still, he had a great game and his court vision is just astronomical for an 19-year-old rookie. He’s going to be a triple-double machine in the near future and Presti has to be excited for the kid.
A player who people thought was going to have a bigger role based on his performance in the pre-season, comes up extremely short to start off the regular season. He finished this game with just one point (0/2 shooting, 1/2 from the line), two rebounds and one assist. Naturally, he had a turnover as well. Maledon was expected to have a decent-sized role this year but his coach had different plans. As mentioned earlier, Maledon is a victim of Coach Daignault’s disgusting bench rotation that benefits no one. Maybe he can carve out a decent role later on in the season.
Jerome had a decent game off the bench. He finished with a low-end line of eight points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals. He shot 3/7 from the field and 2/4 from three. Jerome has been subject to a bench role this year and the sporadic playing time has done him no favors. In fact, this was just his third played game this year out of six. Whenever Jerome plays, though, he tends to perform very well and he gives this club another oversized guard that they can utilize. Much like Maledon and Poku, however, he’s coming off the bench for the OKC thunder.
Williams finished this game with a stat line of zero points, three rebounds and one turnover. He also shot 0/4 from the field. It was a bad game from the former Pelican and it’s no secret that he may be on the trade block this year along with Mike Muscala and Derrick Favors.
Muscala didn’t have the best game this time, putting up three points, three rebounds and two blocks. He shot just 1/5 from the field and missed both threes. Despite the bad line, Muscala has actually been very good this year. He is averaging 8.3 points, three rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks a game on a scorching 52% from the field and 46% from three while shooting 71% from the line.
