If Kevin Durant made his return tonight for the Nets, unlike a Kyrie Irving still absent and who has maintained the mystery for three games, it is ultimately the young people of the Thunder who will have made this game theirs, signing their third consecutive success and a fifth in nine games. They’re not going to do it again for us from last season, are they?
Nine games and five victories therefore, and the pleasant feeling of seeing an uninhibited group evolve, cleverly orchestrated, and driven by a few leaders not always expected but well and truly present. Tonight ? Different destinies among the U17s of Mark Daigneault, himself barely older than his players, but real good reasons to hope for a pleasant season in Oklahoma. A magnificent leader first of all, that a nasty fall at the end of the match will not have slowed down: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. True boss of an NBA franchise at only 22 years old, SGA released his cleanest game of the season last night. 31 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, a crazy skill and always that mixture of phlegm and unpredictability that makes him one of the favorite players of your favorite player. By his side tonight? A huge Hamidou Diallo coming off the bench, Hamidou who is not at his first attempt this year and who therefore alternated against the Nets the penetrations completed at high altitude, his specialty, and the sweet shots in the perimeter without ask questions. 25/3/4/4 in the end for Diallo, we have our duo.
Also well supported by an Uncle Al Horford who makes the Sixers fans eat their stumps on each of their outings this season, the SGA / Diallo duo has therefore accumulated almost 60 pawns in this match and was able to count on a luxury supporting cast. George Hill and Luguentz Dort in the role of useful starters, but also this great thing from Isaiah Roby, who seems bigger and more talented every night and who took advantage of Mike Muscala’s absence tonight to express himself more. Untied and voluntary, qualities that could also be credited with Théo Maledon, Theo Maladroit tonight but Theo Malefique in the organization, always in the right places and with a step ahead of the pass to do. A homogeneous whole, a group of kids who play basketball, and to which we could also add a Darius Bazley supposed to be one of the leaders of the class but a little more behind this evening and an Aleksej Pokusevksi on which he is going very quickly we have to look at it as it is the increasingly logical result of a merger between Kristaps Porzingis and an ostrich under acid.
All that to say what? Well, the Thunder excites us, and the Thunder beat the Nets tonight (129-116) with a Kevin Durant yet very indefensible. A solid KD Caris duo in the first half, a KD Uno thereafter, but a solid OKC team from start to finish, and which confirms that if you can win games while learning it is not more wrong. And anyway guys don’t care, they have 45 rounds of Draft until 2025.
