The Thunder beat the Mavericks 119-104 Tuesday night in Tulsa to open the 2019 preseason. Didn’t seem too odd without Russell Westbrook. That will come later. Exhibitions are crazy. But you can detect a little. Here’s what I saw:
* Darius Bazley has a better shooting form than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This is akin to finding out that ice cream is better for you than broccoli.
We had been told that Bazley, the rookie who sat out all forms of competitive basketball last season – no college, no G-League, no international ball – had a broken shooting stroke.