Mitch McGary was down on the floor scrapping for a loose ball, but when he finally got control of the ball, he was trapped. Without hesitating, he used his right hand to flip the ball behind his back, directly into the waiting hands of rookie forward Daniel Hamilton, who calmly drained a three.
“I saw a loose ball, the ball got tipped and I’m not going to give up on the play,” McGary recalled. “I saw Daniel in my peripherals.”
In an 89-71 victory here at Summer League in Orlando over the Indiana Pacers, the Thunder fell behind early but dominated the majority of the game with highlight plays just like the one McGary manufactured. Diving on the court, hustling to track down loose balls and making steals were all precursors to alley-oop dunks, slick layups and some timely three-pointers. Those game changing plays happened all over the floor on Wednesday night.
“He’s an energy player,” Summer League Head Coach Mark Daigneault said of McGary. “He’s largely a personality player. He plays with a lot of passion and a lot of energy.
“Coach Mark has been preaching defense every day,” Payne added. “That’s our identity. Defense, staying in help, helping out our teammates.”
McGary was the beneficiary of Cameron Payne’s playmaking, including an alley-oop that the Thunder point guard threw from mid-court and a beautifully drawn baseline out of bounds play, which resulted in Payne diving to the rim and McGary finishing an alley-oop layup plus the foul.
“When I came off, I was about to shoot a floater, but I saw him out of the corner of my eye,” Payne explained. “He was running for the rebound, so I threw it up, he reacted to it and went up and got it.”
It wasn’t perfect early on for the Thunder, as it fell behind 15-5 during the opening 4:26 of play. Behind some gritty play and a heightened energy level, the Thunder clawed back in by forcing a shot clock violation, snagging some offensive rebounds and getting some stops. The Thunder supported a 13-5 run to end the first quarter with a 7-1 burst to start the second period, to break the game open.
“We just needed to stay the course,” Daigneault said. “Our defensive intensity did go to another level and we were able to sustain that for the game.”
“They were hitting tough shots and we knew they weren’t going to hit them all game,” McGary explained. “We stayed within our system, played great defense and got the win.”
The Thunder shot 43.4 percent from the field, but out-rebounded the Pacers 42-33 and dished out 20 assists compared to 13 turnovers while turning the Pacers over 19 times on the other end of the floor. Six different player scored in double figures for the Thunder, led by Payne’s 19 points and six assists and McGary’s 14 points. Josh Huestis, Semaj Christon and Dakari Johnson each scored 11 points to round out the starters, while Tomislav Zubcic, who played for the Oklahoma City Blue last season, hit three three-pointers on his way to 13 points.
Full Video: Postgame Reaction from Wednesday's Win