KD back and the world seems to have tilted back to its proper axis. That may be extreme but the Thunder certainly got back into a flow immediately. In his first game back from a strained hamstring, a minute restrictionless KD put in 30 minutes of clinical scoring then sat the entire fourth quarter. It was the absolute best outcome any Thunder fan could hope for. Take a gander at any Thunder blog around and you will feel the sigh of relief coming from Thunder fans. This is the team that beat San Antonio to start the season. This is no longer the team that struggled to score 80 against the Knicks at home.
A suddenly rejuvenated Thunder took it to Utah from the outset with a couple quick KD buckets, but it looked like this would be a back and forth game. I know I was certainly exasperated at the end of the first quarter when we went out only up 3. The second quarter is where the domination began, and it did so on the back of an all bench lineup. Trust me, I'm loathe to admit anything good can come from a 2015-16 Thunder bench lineup, but it did and it might continue to. With KD back in the equation and Billy coming to his senses the second unit has rounded itself out in a way everyone hoped it might. Morrow overtaking Singler, Waiters attempting to play intelligent basketball, and Collison being the voice that can keep Kanter under control defensively. This team was hamstrung in more ways than KD's leg. Rotations were out of whack. Players were playing minutes they didn't deserve. An allstar point guard stopped playing defense. It was an ugly period, but there is hope circling Thunder Alley. Justified hope. |
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