Donovan goes Nader over Patterson at power forward
HOUSTON – Thunder guard Alex Abrines was a late scratch Tuesday with what the team called a stomach illness, but that wasn’t the biggest tweak to the rotation in a 113-109 loss to the Rockets.
Abdel Nader was the primary choice over Patrick Patterson as a substitution for Jerami Grant at power forward.
Nader started the fourth quarter where the Thunder’s reserves were outscored 7-5.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan said he wanted to go with Nader because the Rockets were playing more four-guard lineups.
“It means a lot that he has confidence to put me in at that time,” said Nader, who played a season-high 10 minutes. Nader said he's been practicing at power forward this season. “The reason being he wants to be able to switch more and (give) a little more shooting on the offensive end.”
While Nader didn’t give back much defensively, he missed both of his shot attempts to start the fourth while the struggling Patterson couldn’t get off the bench.
“They were putting him in pick-and-roll in the second quarter,” Donovan said of Patterson. “I think that’s the flexibility of our team.
“I give Abdel credit. He’s worked hard. They had four guards out there. The matchups for us were probably a little bit easier for us with that lineup.”
Tech watch
Russell Westbrook is creeping closer to a suspension.
In just 25 games played, Westbrook has accumulated 10 technical fouls, his latest coming in the second quarter Tuesday against the Rockets when he was frustrated with not receiving a shooting foul call on a 3-point attempt.
If a player exceeds 15 technical fouls, he has to serve a one-game suspension.
Family flight
The Thunder has had a rugged month of travel, playing eight of 12 games on the road and not being home for more than three days. The team goes back to Oklahoma City for a day before heading to Phoenix on Thursday.
With the Thunder playing on the road for Christmas, the organization arranged for the families of players, coaches and staff to travel with the team to Houston on Christmas Eve, capped with a big dinner at the team hotel Monday night.
“Opening up the opportunity for our families to travel with the team is great,” Donovan said. “Mr. (Clay) Bennett and Sam (Presti) I think understand that when you’re traveling on such a big holiday like Christmas, it’s hard being away from family.”
Tip-ins
With nine assists Tuesday, Westbrook moved into fifth all-time in Christmas Day assists (77) … The Thunder shot 13-of-15 in the paint in the second quarter, but just 12-of-34 in the paint in the second half. “They just packed the paint,” Paul George said. “That was the difference. Tried to force us to take perimeter shots. You could tell it was an emphasis in their second-half approach.”