Darius Bazley has been a pleasant surprise.
One of the bigger question marks on the Thunder roster coming into the regular season, Bazley has certainly looked like a guy Oklahoma City can count on to contribute.
He got off to somewhat of a slow start but looks to have found some confidence thanks to solid showings in each of the Thunder’s last two wins.
Bazley averaged 13.5 points against New Orleans and Orlando. He had scored 13 points total in the five games prior to that.
Over the last two wins, Bazley is shooting above 40% from the field, connecting on 9-of-21 of his field-goal attempts. He’s also holding steady around 45% from three.
Tuesday night against the Magic, Bazley played an important role for Oklahoma City, scoring 10 points and pulling down six rebounds. He knocked down a couple of key three-pointers, including a 25-footer with 7:58 to play and the game tied at 83. That bucket put the Thunder ahead for good.
Bazley told Thunder reporter Nick Gallo that the biggest difference between the first five games of the season and the last two is that Oklahoma City is “finding ways to win.”
“You know, defensively, the past two games we kind of struggled giving teams second chance opportunities,” said Bazley. “But we were getting stops and then we were finishing plays. And we controlled the fourth (quarter).”
For Bazley, the key to his success has been keeping things even-keeled.
“You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low,” he told Gallo. “You might have a good game in this league, and then you might turn around and have a terrible one. You can’t let those things effect the next shot or go into the next game.”
Bazley’s best game in a Thunder uniform came against the Pelicans when he scored 17 points in 19 minutes.
In that game, Bazley shot 50% from the floor and three-point line, hitting on 5-of-10 field goal attempts, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
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