Waters III, Sarr Provide Spark off Thunder Bench

The injury-plagued Thunder lost to the Hawks on Wednesday, but saw scrappy performances from young pieces.

Chris Becker | Mar 31, 2022

After winning against the Trail Blazers on Monday, Oklahoma City moved back into the losing column on Wednesday against the Hawks.

The injury-depleted Thunder were no match for Atlanta, who is battling for a spot in the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference.

With the help of relatively new NBA names, the Thunder managed to score 118 points in a 136-118 loss.

Here are the top performers from the game:

Lindy Waters III

Lindy Waters III has had quite the journey to the Oklahoma City lineup.

He played for the Enid Outlaws of The Basketball League, and has found himself on the Thunder’s active roster.

On Wednesday, he had a career night against former Norman North High School teammate and NBA superstar Trae Young.

Waters III scored 25 points, made seven 3-point shots and shot 9-of-15 from the field. The points, 3-point shots and field goals made are all career highs for the 24-year-old Oklahoma State product.

With injuries plaguing the Thunder, and Oklahoma City in the bottom tier in 3-point shooting in the league, Waters III had provided offensive firepower to a team in need of it.

Waters III has now made four or more threes in the previous three games.

Olivier Sarr

Since being pulled up from the G-League, Olivier Sarr has provided significant help to the Thunder in the paint, mostly off the bench.

Wednesday night was no different.

Sarr rarely lights up the stat sheet, but he is consistently efficient Wednesday was much the same.

Sarr shot 6-of-9 from the field and scored 17 points. He also knocked down one of his three shots from behind the arc.

Sarr came just one rebound shy of securing a double-double for himself, grabbing nine rebounds.

Despite fouling out of the game Sarr was able to provide the Thunder with some efficient time off of the bench playing 26 minutes before hitting the six foul threshold.

Aleksej Pokusevski

Recently, Aleksej Pokusevski has been key for the Thunder for rebounding and scoring.

On Wednesday, while he helped in both those categories his biggest effect was his passing and assists on the offensive end.

Pokusevski tied Young and Theo Maledon for the game high with eight assists.

Pokusevski was also active scoring, although he didn’t have his best shooting performance. He shot 4-for-11 and added 13 points to the Thunder total. All four of his made field goals were 3-point shots.

Pokusevski also added four rebounds for OKC.

Pokusevski’s role, like most of the Thunder roster, has grown with the onslaught of injuries late this season, and he’s used it to show his development.

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Published Mar 31, 2022

CHRIS BECKER

Chris is a senior Sports Media student at Oklahoma State University who has grown up in Oklahoma and around the Thunder. Chris has covered OSU sports from women’s golf to football working for the O’Colly, the OSU student newspaper.