By JOHN E. HOOVER Sports Columnist on Apr 19, 2013, at 5:01 PM Updated on 4/19 at 5:01 PM
BIXBY — Scott Brooks “loves” the Tulsa 66ers, he said on Monday.
So the Oklahoma City Thunder coach showed his ongoing affection for the team’s D-League affiliate by assigning three players to the 66ers’ Friday night playoff series against Rio Grande Valley.
Official word came down Friday afternoon, just a few hours before tipoff at the SpiritBank Events Center, but I pressed Brooks for clues on Monday following the Thunder’s victory over Sacramento.
“We love Tulsa. We love Tulsa,” Brooks said. “We obviously have a lot of fans of the Thunder there, but we love the 66ers. They really do a good job helping our players get better. Like I’ve said many, many, many, many times, sometimes I wish we could go triple overtime so everybody can feel good about the 10-15 minutes that they would get, but you can’t. But we use the D-League quite a bit.”
NBA teams freeze their rosters for the playoffs, but only 12 players can be active for games. That means three Thunder reserves — in this case, Perry Jones, DeAndre Liggins and Jeremy Lamb — can either sit on the bench against the Houston Rockets in their fine suits or suit up for the 66ers against Rio Grande Valley.
No-brainer.
“Just being able to work out and work on those things in a game-like situation helps a lot,” Lamb told me. “We’ve been going back and forth and it’s helping.”
In Tulsa’s first-round playoff series against Canton, Lamb was the scoring hero with 24 points. In the third and series-clinching game in Ohio, Liggins was the difference, scoring 20 of his 24 points in the second half.
“I made some shots down the stretch — some much-needed shots,” Liggins told me. “But overall, it was a great team effort.”
There is a downside to the minor league shuffling. Both Liggins and Lamb said it’s tough to get word at the last minute — literally, this time; a flat tire on I-44 could cause them to miss the opening tip — and that even though it’s only an hour and 45 minutes up the turnpike, there also are road games to locales like Canton, Ohio (not far from the Canada border), or Hidalgo, Texas (not far from the Mexico border).
After tonight, the remainder of the best-of-3 series is in Texas.
“Sometimes you don’t know when you’re going and stuff like that,” Lamb said. “But for the most part, they make it pretty easy on us.”
The Thunder used their D League affiliation far more than any other team this season. From Jones and Liggins and Lamb to Daniel Orton and Reggie Jackson, promising backups have thrived in Tulsa and grown from their experience.
In Wednesday’s season-finale, Jackson became the only player this season to score at least 35 in a D League game and at least 20 in an NBA game (he had a career-high 23 against Milwaukee as Brooks rested most of his front-line players).
“I don’t know how many minutes, I don’t know the exact number, but I’m sure it’s pretty high compared to the rest of the league,” Brooks said.
The 66ers received 34 NBA assignments this season. Next-best among D-League teams was 14.
In his three games with the 66ers, Jackson averaged 28 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.3 assists. Orton played in 29 games and averaged 12.5 points and 7.8 rebounds. In 21 games, lamb averaged 21 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.24 steals. Liggins averaged 11.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.74 steals. Jones in 15 games averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals.
In three playoff games, Lamb has averaged 20.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals. Liggins’ postseason averages are 12.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists. And Jones is averaging 10.0 points and 5.7 rebounds.
“We use it and it helps us,” Brooks said. “Guys come back — Reggie came back better. Eric (Maynor) was playing earlier (as Russell Westbrook’s backup), Reggie was down there and playing well and came back a better player. Perry has done the same, and Jeremy and DeAndre and Daniel.”
