By Michael Doutey
The Thunder had their final dress rehearsal of the preseason, ending with a 119-115 overtime win against a Buck-less Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee held out Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe and Brook Lopez. So, the Thunder had a nice break for them in this final game before the regular season gets underway in one week.
The Thunder looked a little bored to start the game, like they did against the Hawks on Sunday. They team surged back to take a lead going into halftime after trailing the majority of the first quarter.
The second half was composed without Steven Adams, Paul George and Dennis Schroder. There was little reason to play the stars more than needed, especially after Schroder took a charge with under a minute to play before halftime when he hit the back of his head on George’s knee. Schroder was in pain, but was okay and returned to the bench with the rest of the team in the second half. After a scare like that, Billy Donovan smartly rested his studs, giving way for younger players to get some time on the floor.
While it is a preseason game and mostly against less talented players, there are some things we can take from tonight’s contest. Let’s take a look at today’s five observations.
ONE: PG ready for Regular Season
Paul George is ready for the regular season, folks. He came out of the gate on fire and was the only scoring threat for OKC. It was a slow start for everyone else but PG was completely locked in. He dropped a cool 26 points in the first half. He had his drives going as well as his jumper. He looked like he was in midseason form. PG shot 8-13 from the floor, was 3-5 from three and went 7-8 from the line. Fans were begging Billy D to hold him out in the second half, which he was. PG has looked good all preseason and finished it off in style.
TWO: Schroder’s Off Night
It wasn’t the best night for Dennis Schroder after he has looked really impressive in the previous three games. He finished with just eight points on a poor 2-10 shooting. He was 1-2 from three. He’s done a solid job this preseason in choosing when to take three’s and when to knock them down. This was also the first time we’ve seen a team really go at Dennis. Malcolm Brogdon really went at him and drove to the basket with relative ease. It was a tough night for Schroder, but he did get it going a little in the second quarter. It is a concern, but Schroder didn’t tally an assist tonight. That’s an interesting note.
THREE: We Like Hamidou Diallo
Do you remember the name Donte DiVincenzo? You might remember him from last spring as he helped lead the Villanova Wildcats to the NCAA National Championship and was named the most outstanding player at the Final Four. He was drafted in the first round by the Bucks with pick 17. Well, tonight he was completely dominated by Hamidou Diallo, who was picked in the second round with the 45th pick by the Brooklyn Nets who then was swapped to Charlotte in the Dwight Howard trade. OKC traded for his rights on draft night. Diallo has shown he is a player to watch in Summer League and has done so again in the preseason and in training camp. With Terrance Ferguson out in concussion protocol, Diallo got the start tonight and he didn’t disappoint. He scored 19 points in his 40 minutes of action and had an efficient 8-16 night shooting, including an impressive 3-5 mark from three. He also had five rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block all while being a plus-10 while in the game. I am not sure what we have in Diallo. But he does things on the floor that make him an asset. He isn’t lost on defense, he is tremendously athletic, he knows where to be on offense, he can handle the ball better than I thought and he has shown the ability to knock down open shots. He only scored five points in the first half, but when he was needed to score in the second half he answered the call. He dropped 14 second half points. Also interesting, all of his rebounds came on the offensive end. If there has been anyone who has helped themselves the most in this preseason, it’s easily been Hamidou Diallo. I believe he has carved a roll for himself to start the season.
FOUR: Preseason OT
This will be a short one. But I really hate preseason overtime. You can thank Milwaukee’s Tim Frazier. But Deonte Burton made it better.
FIVE: Burton Saves the Day
The best part of overtime was watching Deonte Burton. Burton nailed three triples in the overtime, including the final two to put the winning touches on the game. He is a tough player who has made himself very popular on the team. He finished with 16 points, 11 of which came in OT. He shot 6-11 and was 3-4 from three. He grabbed four rebounds and three steals. He is an interesting prospect and I’m interested to see how the Thunder handle the young prospect.
The Thunder have tomorrow off before several days of practice before the season opener next Tuesday night in Oakland to take on the hated Warriors. Tip with be at 9:30 p.m. inside Oracle Arena.
