Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shouldered the majority of the scoring load in Oklahoma City’s first two games. Sunday, he didn’t have to.
The Thunder had five players score in double-digits in OKC’s 120-92 win over the hapless Warriors.
Granted, Golden State is dead last in the league’s defensive ratings (124.3), but more production from more people is an encouraging sign.
Billy Donovan went with the same starting five that he used against the Jazz and the Wizards. On Sunday, they rewarded him with 71 points on 24-of-45 shooting from the field.
But maybe more important than that, the Thunder got significant contributions from their bench. Dennis Schröder scored a team-high 22 as the bench was responsible for 40.9% of the scoring against the Warriors.
Even with 22 of the 49 bench points coming from Schröder, the ability to have fairly even scoring between the starters and the substitutes takes a lot of pressure off the first five.
After a slow start, Terrance Ferguson has his best game of the young season, scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 30 minutes of game time.
Surprisingly, after Steven Adams’ stellar pre-season, the start of the regular season has been a struggle. Adams’ rebounding numbers have held steady, he’s averaging 11.3 per game, but buckets have been hard to come by.
Once he finds his stride, expect this team to pick up steam offensively.
