Enes Kanter was back after missing a month. Semaj Christon played backup point guard for the first time in nearly two months and two new players, Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott, were suddenly in the Thunder rotation after only arriving in Oklahoma City last night. At the last minute, Victor Oladipo was scratched from the starting lineup due to back spasms.
Much like Crash Davis and his teammates in the classic baseball comedy Bull Durham, Head Coach Billy Donovan and the Thunder were “dealing with a lot of stuff” at once, all out on the playing surface in real time.