Thunder has variety of skillsets at center
SALT LAKE CITY — Thunder center Mike Muscala checked his left eye before stepping in front of the cameras in the locker room, decided it didn't look too bad, and entered the post- game scrum.
A purplish crescent had begun to form just above his cheekbone. The slight swelling suggested it could grow darker in the coming days.
Muscala got the black eye while battling Jazz center Rudy Gobert on defense in the first
half of the Thunder's 100-95 loss at Utah on Wednesday. It was a first half in which Muscala spent more time on the floor than starting center Steven Adams. The Thunder not only gave Adams – who has been a traditional, bruising big man his whole career – the green light on 3-point shots this season. It acquired two centers who can stretch the floor, in Muscala and Justin
Patton.
“Although Mike didn't maybe shoot it great,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said after Wednesday's game, “he did do some good things in terms of, he created some good 3s, he created some different actions.”
Muscala has played both power forward and center in his career, but in four preseason games and one regular season game, the Thunder has pretty much exclusively used him at center.
OKC has more depth at that position than past years. It
has so many centers, in fact, that Donovan sat Nerlens Noel in two preseason games because, in Donovan's words, “I know what Nerlens can do.” He wanted to take a look at his two new stretch 5s (centers who can shoot 3s).
Wednesday showed how useful Muscala can be at center when the Thunder needs to throw something new at an opposing team's defense.
Adams missed all five of his shots in the first half. He bounced a layup off the backboard wide, airballed a hook shot, missed a layup and the following putback attempt, and clanged another hook shot.
With the second unit, Noel managed to grab two rebounds, make the only shot he took and come up with a big block in less than five minutes of playing time. But his offensive skill set isn't much different from Adams's.
“In that second quarter when I came back with Mike it was more to create more spacing and some shooting and open up the floor a little bit,” Donovan said, “… So, it really had nothing to do with Nerlens. It just was like, that probably was a better situation for Mike based on how the game was going and how much we were having a hard time, at least in the beginning part of the game, offensively.”
Muscala took three 3-point shots, two in the second quarter and one in the third.
He got open in the same way each time. Muscala set a screen for point guard Chris Paul, who dribbled toward the basket, threatening a midrange shot. As the Jazz big man left Muscala to double team Paul, the veteran point guard threw it back out to Muscala.
“Playing with Chris is great,” Muscala said. “I wish I'd knocked down a couple 3s there. But his pace and his reading of the angles of the defense, how they're playing him, just his caginess out there, it's really fun to play with him in pick-and-pop.”
Muscala missed all three of his 3-point attempts. But he's a career 36.3 percent 3-point shooter, so
Three things to know
• The Thunder is 9-2 in home openers, and 9-1 against the Wizards in Chesapeake Energy Arena. Washington's first win in Oklahoma City came in January of last season.
• The Wizards selected forward Rui Hachimura with their ninth overall pick in June's NBA Draft. Hachimura was a second team AllAmerican last season at Gonzaga.
• A Thunder victory would give coach Billy Donovan his 200th win with the team. Donovan is 199-130 (60.5) as he begins his fifth season in
“Playing with Chris is great. I wish I'd knocked down a couple 3s there. But his pace and his reading of the angles of the defense, how they're playing him, just his caginess out there, it's really fun to play with him in pick- and-pop.”
Thunder center Mike Muscala
the Jazz couldn't ignore his presence on the perimeter. With Muscala on the floor for all but 2 minutes and 15 seconds of the second quarter, OKC outscored Utah 34-26.
Oklahoma City. Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers are the only active head coaches with at least 200 wins and a 60 percent winning percentage with their current teams.
Adams will have better games. Other matchups will favor more traditional big men. But the Thunder now has the option of spacing the floor with a center.