In the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 128-101 loss to the Phoenix Suns, the Thunder had many stretches of point guard-free basketball when Chris Paul was on the bench.
Head coach Billy Donovan said he wanted to give players who are typically off-ball guards or wings experience handling the ball and creating shots for themselves.
“It was different for them, but I think that the experience they got playing against that kind of pressure was good for them,” Donovan said.
Oklahoma City was without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Monday and remains without Dennis Schroder, who is home with family after the birth of his child.
With Paul as the only rotation point guard, players like Hamidou Diallo, Lu Dort, Deonte Burton and Darius Bazley had time as the lead ball handlers.
“The guys that were out there, I think there’ll be some really good learning experiences from being able to have to make plays with the ball in their hands,” Donovan said.
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While the ability to go with two- and three-guard lineups for entire games has been the Thunder’s strength this season, the lack of ball handlers and shot creators around them has been a detriment in times like these when at least one point guard is missing.
Burton played 32 minutes off the bench. He had two points and three rebounds with no assists.
Diallo played 23 minutes, finishing with nine points, one assist and two steals. Dort had eight points in 21 minutes.
Bazley once again impressed, this game in the starting lineup. The only starter to play more than 26 minutes, he had 22 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 8-for-16 from the field and making a pair of 3s.
While those off-ball guards and wings won’t be expected to handle the ball to this extreme in playoff games, Oklahoma City thinks it can give them a step forward in development.
Chris Paul, who played just 24 minutes, said the extra minutes in general will be good for the young players. All six guys off the bench played double-digit minutes.
“I think in this game, where a lot of these guys are getting the chance to play, we were just talking about translating,” Paul said. “They get to observe a lot when they’re watching some of the other games, and now you put it into action, so it was cool to get to see everybody put things together.”
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