OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook always have served as focal points of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s success since they first teamed up. Durant is a special player who youngsters like Milwaukee Bucks standout Giannis Antetokounmpo considers “a guy that everybody looks up to”. While Westbrook is the Tasmanian devil of point guards, attacking the basket with a relentless vigor as if he is possessed.
But when one of them is on the shelf with an injury, the supporting cast must all step up to fill the void. Durant missed Monday’s 116-104 loss to the Sacramento Kings due to a toe injury and while Serge Ibaka and others turned in impressive offensive performances, it always felt like something was missing.
“You’re going to have injuries,” said Thunder head coach Billy Donovan. “I had enough confidence in the rest of these guys. I thought Anthony Morrow stepped up in that starting role and gave us a really good game and played well. I think that we, certainly from an offensive standpoint without a great shooting night, we still scored 104 points.”
Obviously, every one from Morrow to Ibaka to Payne needs to step up in Durant’s absence, but the one needed the most is Enes Kanter, who for the most part has been playing like a lock for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.
While the Thunder were pressured to sign Kanter to the $70 million max contract to match Portland’s offer in the offseason, they are getting their money’s worth in a different way. By leading all bench players in rebounding and shooting 55.8 percent, which is good for fifth overall in the league – while the Thunder lead the league in rebounding – Kanter is an investment in their second unit.
“He’s done a great job,” Donovan said. “I got a lot of confidence in Enes. He’s certainly provided a lot of low post scoring. He’s been very efficient.”
Kanter’s career has developed more meaning since being acquired by the Utah Jazz. Even though he went from starting all 26 games last season since the trade to exclusively coming off the bench this season. Yet, in averaging 11.7 points per game and 7.7 rebounds in just 20 minutes, he has found a way to be very efficient with his time, allowing Ibaka and Adams to never grow tired.
“I just want to help my team win,” Kanter said. “It doesn’t matter, off the bench, play one minute or 48. When I’m out there, Coach tells me to bring energy and just go after rebounds and I’m just trying to do that.”
Kanter is very similar to Sixers center Jahlil Okafor: a very skilled scorer, but also deficient on defense. ESPN NBA Insider Amin Elhassan considered Kanter to be the worst defensive center in NBA history and largely credits his absence to Utah’s rise in defensive efficiency.
Source: http://www.enidnews.com/
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