Thunder Notes: Bench, Dort, Murray, Closing Out, Lottery

The Thunder‘s deep bench shined via in Sport 4 on Sunday as they tied the sequence with the Nuggets with a 92-87 victory. Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins had 11 factors apiece and Alex Caruso provided 10. The 5 reserves that coach Mark Daigneault utilized additionally mixed for 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Denver used three subs and just one — Russell Westbrook — performed prolonged minutes. He shot 2-for-12 from the sphere.

“It’s never, like, ‘I wonder what we should do now,’” Daigneault stated, per Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. “It’s always frameworks that we work through during the seasons. We have a pretty good understanding of frameworks of lineups, frameworks of rotations, different levers we can pull. We’re not just throwing stuff against the wall in the highest stakes games.”

Now we have extra on the Thunder:

• Luguentz Dort had a tough outing, taking pictures 2-for-10 from the sphere, all past the three-point arc. He didn’t play within the fourth quarter. Dort has struggled together with his taking pictures in highway playoff video games, Lorenzi notes, however the head coach isn’t fretting. “I definitely trust the body of work over time more than small sample sizes,” Daigneault stated. “If the question is whether or not I’m confident in his three-point shooting, I am. He’s the last guy I’m worried about. We also have a deep team.”
• Dort, after all, is extra famous for his defensive work. The Nuggets have tried to make use of arduous screens to dislodge him from guard Jamal Murray. “It’s been like that all year; it’s not just Denver,” Dort advised The Athletic’s Kelly Iko. “I know I’m a good defender and disturb a lot of (opposing teams’) main guys. Whenever I’m off their main guy’s body, it’s good for them.”
• The Thunder misplaced by two factors within the sequence opener and extra time in Sport 3. Pulling out a five-point win in Sport 4 exhibits that they’re getting higher at closing out tight contests within the postseason. “Every time you take punches and you get back up, you get stronger,” Daigneault stated, in line with ESPN News Services. “That’s what we’re preaching to our team. We lost a tough one the other night in overtime. We stood back up (Sunday).”
• Due to Philadelphia’s lottery luck, shifting as much as the highest three, the Thunder received’t have a lottery choose. The primary-rounder the Sixers owe them will probably be top-four protected subsequent 12 months.