On the surface, a victory over the hapless Sacramento Kings, on a night when Scotty Brooks rested his starters in the fourth quarter and the Thunder seemed distracted anyway, would not be a big deal. But the Thunder’s 118-110 victory actually had some value going into the playoffs.
Starting with Daequan Cook. Cook’s amazing fourth quarter â€" 19 points, on 6-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range â€" was a pleasant surprise. Cook had been mired in an awful slump. In the five games since OKC played at Sacramento on April 13, Cook had made just two of 10 3-pointers. And you know if Cook isn’t making 3-pointers, his value is slim.
Cook has missed nine games this season with a sprained knee. But earlier in the season, he was in the starting lineup for the injured Thabo Sefolosha. Before his March 20 injury, Cook played 43 games. He played less than 10 minutes in only three of those games, and he played 9:55 in one of those three. But in the 12 games Cook has played since the injury, he’s played at least 10 minutes only four times.
Cook’s playing time has been lessened by Thabo’s return, but also by the signing of Derek Fisher. Scotty Brooks has used Fisher not only as Russell Westbrook’s backup at point guard but also as an off-guard, particularly when the Thunder goes small.
Cook the last two seasons has provided the Thunder with instant offense off the bench. It takes about 15 seconds to discover if Cook has his hot hand on any particular night, so on certain nights, Brooks can ride Cook to a few huge 3-pointers. That luxury has disappeared in recent weeks.
The Thunder needs Cook’s marksmanship. He’s a hot-and-cold shooter, but when Cook is hot, he’s a momentum-changer. Cook scored 18 points in 18 minutes in a playoff victory over Memphis last season. Without Cook, the Thunder second unit has struggled to find points outside of James Harden. Cook’s return to a more expanded role would be huge for OKC.
The Thunder also got a solid fourth quarter from Cole Aldrich, who played all 12 minutes. In 15:31 of playing time â€" the most Aldrich has played since Feb. 20 â€" Aldrich had six points (and made all four of his foul shots), three rebounds, a blocked shot and five fouls. I love the five fouls. On a night when the Thunder went 81/2 minutes to start the game without fouling, some defensive aggression was needed.
Aldrich got torched by Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, who had eight points in 7:15 of the fourth quarter, but that’s OK. Cousins was lighting up every Boomer on Tuesday night. It’s a valid debate on whether the Thunder should have used Nazr Mohammed as the backup center this season, or used Aldrich. I support the Nazr decision, but Aldrich has shown plenty of energy, when he gets the chance. Aldrich gets after it. It’s not likely the Thunder will need a third center in the playoffs, but if it does, Aldrich showed he’s not a stiff.
I also thought the game was a good step for Fisher, who has not played all that well since signing  with the Thunder. Fisher was solid against Sacramento: 281/2 minutes, 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, five assists, just one turnover. He didn’t look so old against the Kings. Of course, Sacramento plays no defense whatsoever, so let’s not get too carried away.
All in all, a good night at the arena for the Thunder. Find more good news on Wednesday night against Denver, and the Thunder will have eroded some of that slump it’s been experiencing most of April.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
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