Category: OKC Thunder Blog

OKC Thunder blog – Oklahoma City Thunder basketball blog

Thunder rookie Darius Bazley playing well in Disney NBA Restart Bubble

Thunder rookie Darius Bazley hasn’t gotten many mentions this season, but lately, since the NBA restart, he’s showing some nice signs. Here’s the Oklahoman with some examples:

On an afternoon the Thunder was overmatched from the start — five rotational players, including three starters, were scratched for various reasons — there wasn’t much fun versus the Suns.

Phoenix 128, OKC 101.

But if you’re looking for bright spots, none was more brilliant than Bazley. He recorded his first career double double, scoring 22 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and becoming the first Thunder rookie with a double double since Domantas Sabonis in January 2017.

What’s more, it was Bazley’s second 20-point game in as many days. When Sunday dawned, Bazley had never scored 20 points in an NBA game. By the time the sun set Monday, he had done it twice…

Through six seeding games, he is averaging 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. Before the coronavirus put the season on hold, he was averaging only 4.7 points and 3.7 rebounds.

The Thunder have been an under-the-radar good team all season, and must be pleased to see an additional player step up as the playoffs rapidly approach.

Thunder forward Abdel Nader out with concussion

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Abdel Nader sustained a concussion during last night’s 98-84 scrimmage victory against the Boston Celtics and he has been placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol.

Per the NBA’s Concussion Policy, Nader will now begin the NBA-mandated Return-to-Participation Protocol. This process includes a series of steps designed to ensure an athlete exhibits symptom-free behavior before resuming basketball activities. There is no predetermined timetable to complete the protocol, as each injury and player is different and recovery time can vary in each case.

In 48 games (five starts) this season, Nader is averaging 6.0 points and 1.9 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game.

A look at OKC Thunder practice at Disney quarantine bubble in Orlando

The NBA is restarting, with games resuming July 30. Recently, 22 of the league’s 30 teams flew to Orlando, Florida, heading to Disney Wide World of Sports to quarantine, practice and prepare to play real games, leading to what will hopefully be a complete NBA postseason.

Here’s a glance at Oklahoma City Thunder practice. Press the play button:

Thunder to resume play August 1st vs Jazz

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced the schedule for its eight seeding games to restart the 2019-20 season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida today.

The Thunder will open play on Saturday, Aug. 1 versus the Utah Jazz. The team will then face the Denver Nuggets on Aug. 3 before its contest versus the Los Angeles Lakers on Aug. 5. Oklahoma City will face the Memphis Grizzlies on Aug. 7 then complete a back-to-back on Aug. 9 and 10, facing the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns, respectively. Oklahoma City’s final two seeding games will be Aug. 12 versus the Miami Heat and Aug. 14 versus the LA Clippers.

All eight of the Thunder’s seeding games in Orlando will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Oklahoma. Additionally, all games can be heard via the Thunder Radio Network, led by flagship station WWLS-The Sports Animal (98.1 FM) in Oklahoma City.

ESPN will televise two of Oklahoma City’s games (Aug. 1 vs. the Utah Jazz and Aug. 5 at the Los Angeles Lakers) while NBA TV will broadcast two of the team’s games (Aug. 3 vs. the Denver Nuggets and Aug. 7 at the Memphis Grizzlies).

Given the updated game schedule and format for the 2019-20 season, the Thunder has solidified a playoff berth for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons, joining the San Antonio Spurs as the only other team to accomplish the feat in this timeframe. This also marks the team’s 11th straight season with a record above .500, good for the longest active streak in the NBA.

Thunder sign guard Luguentz Dort to multi-year contract

The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed guard Luguentz Dort to a multi-year contract, Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today.

During the 2019-20 season, Dort has appeared in 29 games (21 starts) for the Thunder and averaged 6.2 points to go along with 1.9 rebounds and 0.79 steals in 22.0 minutes per game. Oklahoma City has posted a 16-5 record (.762) with Dort in the team’s starting lineup this season.

The Montreal, Canada native scored a career-best 23 points Jan. 29 at Sacramento after shooting 5-of-6 from beyond the 3-point arc and became just the fourth Thunder rookie to knock down five or more threes in a single game. Additionally, Dort registered the second-best shooting night by a Thunder rookie on Feb. 23 versus San Antonio when he went a perfect 6-of-6 from the field en route to 15 points during the Thunder’s victory versus the Spurs.

Dort was signed to a Two-Way Contract by the Thunder last July after one season at Arizona State where he earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Pac-12 All-Defense Team honors.

Rest is a good thing for Thunder center Steven Adams

Here’s the Oklahoman reporting on Thunder center Steven Adams, who plays like his life depends on it and can use rest whenever it’s available:

A defensive anchor. A steady rebounder. A guy who didn’t care if he ever touched the ball. All kinds of entities have people like Stone Cold. Businesses. Families. Teams. Things just go smoother when he’s around. It’s always a little strange when he’s not.

But I’m also delighted when Adams sits. Because I know he’s resting. Adams is big and physical. He deals out plenty of punishment; some day, make yourself watch an entire game without following the ball. Just keep your eyes peeled to Adams and watch how many shoves and bumps and collisions he causes. But for every one of those skirmishes, there’s punishment coming back his way. Adams hits the deck a lot, in part because he does play hard and he doesn’t give up on plays, and it doesn’t take too far into the season before you can see him rising gingerly from the hardwood.

Worries me greatly. Adams hasn’t missed much time – like I said, 16 games total over the last four years and just 31 in his entire seven-season career. But Adams always looks injured. Wrapped up. Worn out. Then like Samson tied to the pillars, his feats of strength break through.

Adams always appears to need about two weeks off, though he never gets it.

On the last Thunder game before league play was put on hold

Here’s the Oklahoman editorializing on the last game the OKC Thunder played before league play was put on hold, a Sunday, March 8 105-104 win against the Celtics in Boston, with comments from point guard Chris Paul:

After the 105-104 win, Paul told Thunder sideline reporter Nick Gallo that he hadn’t gotten that excited in a long time. Paul also talked about how great a win it was, how much fun the team was having, how together everyone was.

I knew that game was in the final days before the coronavirus shut down the NBA, then all of sports in this country, but since the past few weeks feel like a few years, I couldn’t remember if the Thunder played any more games after that game in Boston.

I went to check my calendar.

(Yes, I’m old — I still keep a written calendar in a day planner.)

That game in Boston was Sunday, March 8. The Thunder then had two days off before a home game Wednesday, March 11 against the Jazz.

You know what happened there.

So, that game at Boston, that masterful win against the Celtics was the last time the Thunder played.

That win was OKC’s 8th in their last 10 games. It was their third win in a row, for a 40-24 record, tying them with the Rockets for the 5th best winning percentage in the Western conference.

Thunder players test negative for coronavirus

The Oklahoma City Thunder consulted with infectious disease experts for a recommendation on the players and staff who needed COVID-19 testing based on their exposure at the game on March 11. All results have come back negative — which, as you hopefully know, is a good thing. If you get tested for something bad, coming up “negative” for the test means you don’t have that bad thing.

The Thunder say they will continue to work in coordination with team physicians, public health officials and infectious disease experts, while focusing on the health and safety of everyone in their community.

The team also understandably made sure to point out that they recognize “the stress on the state of Oklahoma’s medical system,” and that they “did not use state resources and chose an alternative path for testing of its personnel.”

NBA Players of the Week are Kyle Lowry and Dennis Schroder

Raptors guard Kyle Lowry has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Dec. 16-22. Lowry earns the honor for the sixth time in his career and fifth time with the Raptors.

Lowry averaged 24.5 points, 10.0 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 39.6 minutes while helping the Raptors to a perfect 4-0 record last week. He shot .448 (30-for-67) from the field, .424 (14-for-33) from three-point range and .774 (24-for-31) at the free throw line.

Lowry began the week by recording the first of three double-doubles (20 points, 11 assist) during a 133-113 victory Dec. 16 vs. Cleveland. He then earned his franchise-best 13th career triple-double Dec. 18 at Detroit (20 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds). Lowry finished the week by leading the Raptors in a franchise-record 30-point comeback Dec. 22 vs. Dallas. He scored a game-high 32 points, including 20 points in the fourth quarter rally that resulted in a 110-107 victory.

And on the West side of things, Thunder guard Dennis Schroder has been named Western Conference Player of the Week.

From the Oklahoman, “He averaged 25.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and six assists, lifting the Thunder to a 4-0 record last week. Schroder, an early Sixth Man of the Year candidate, beat out a field of starters to claim the honor.”

Devin Booker returns, but Suns fall to Thunder

The Suns got their star back, but fell to a fellow mid-level Western conference squad. Here’s Arizona Sports reporting:

The Phoenix Suns got Devin Booker back on Friday after his three-game absence due to a right forearm contusion.

That was great news, even better considering the Suns are in the middle of a four-game losing streak and received a blow on Tuesday when Deandre Ayton sprained his ankle in his first game back from a 25-game suspension.

A strong bounce-back game from Booker could represent the team’s own.

Instead, Phoenix’s defensive shortcomings came back to bite them once again and Oklahoma City beat them 126-108.

The Thunder are now 14-14, the Suns 11-17.

Phoenix was a stronger team earlier in the season, but have fallen back down to Earth — yet they should remain competitive. It’ll be interesting to see how they do in the coming weeks now that Deandre Ayton, coming off a 25-game suspension that has mostly erased his season so far, is back in the mix.