Slipping off of a screen, Ousmane Dieng found a pocket in the dunker spot and softly feathered the ball inside the basket.
It was Dieng’s first of 10 buckets in an eventful night that saw the Oklahoma City Thunder dominate the scarcely-talented Philadelphia 76ers, 100-91.
“It was great experiences and I was really impressed with how guys competed every game,” Thunder summer league coach David Akinyooye said about their three Salt Lake City games
Monday was about Chet Holmgren’s return. Wednesday was about Tre Mann’s 28 points. So it only made sense that it was Dieng’s turn to have a summer night where he shined the brightest for OKC.
After a rough first 1.5 SLC summer league games, Dieng capped off his stay in Utah with a strong final game. The Thunder were without most of their notable players — as Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Jaylin Williams and Cason Wallace were all out. This means the deck was cleared for Dieng and Mann to take over this game and dominate against inferior competition.
“I think I’ve been better every game in the last three games,” Dieng said. “… I think I got better yesterday and today.”
Despite the long list of players who were out, the Thunder made easy work of the Sixers, whose most notable player was 2021 first-rounder Jaden Springer.
Springer finished with 17 points, five rebounds and seven turnovers. Undrafted rookie Terquavion Smith also had 15 points and went 5-of-10 from 3 for the Sixers. Greg Brown III had 11 points and four rebounds off the bench.
The Thunder got off to a hot start that helped them build a 36-17 advantage following the first quarter. OKC continued to pile on and entered halftime with a 24-point lead. After only losing three points of their lead in the third quarter, the final 10 minutes essentially served as garbage time — until it wasn’t.
Despite leading by as many as 31 points, the Thunder had to earn this win late as Sixers made it interesting in the fourth quarter by cutting OKC’s lead to as little as five points. The Thunder escaped with the win and a 2-1 record in Utah, but the Sixers’ comeback efforts made them sweat it out a bit after being in control for the first three quarters.
Regardless though, if the Thunder would’ve blown a 31-point lead, it really wouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things — summer league results are inconsequential and the individual performances of Dieng and Mann were enough to feel good about this game.
The Thunder wrapped up the SLC portion of their summer league schedule. OKC will now play at least five more games in Las Vegas.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.