After losing in Tulsa Wednesday, it was up to the Oklahoma City Blue to respond.
Despite missing Ousmane Dieng, Adam Flagler and Alex Ducas, among others, the Blue dominated the Cleveland Charge 114-83. Javonte Cooke was the aggressor for OKC, scoring 28 points and leading the Blue in scoring.
“He’s the ultimate competitor,” Blue coach Kameron Woods said. “He doesn’t force anything. Everything is within the team. He can play with any lineup.”
Cooke stole the show, but big man Justyn Hamilton, who started in place of the inactive Noah Starkey, pieced together a good game as well. Hamilton scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Hamilton’s presence inside was felt all night but didn’t show up much in the box score.
“I’m just so proud of him man,” Cooke said. “He hasn’t been getting the most playing time early in the year. When those guys come down, he might get a DNP. But just trusting the work that he put in, we put our trust in him. That’s the type of player he is. He can play like that.”
With a lack of bodies and playing on the back end of a back-to-back, the Blue was due for a bad game, but from the opening tip, it looked like the better team.
With Thursday’s win over the Charge, the Blue still sits two games back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. If OKC has any hope of defending its G-League championship in the playoffs, it will have to string together a good stretch of games.
With Ousmane Dieng playing with the Thunder, the Blue has been and could continue to be without its best player for the foreseeable future. The slew of injuries the Blue has dealt with this season hasn’t made things any easier, but with key players slowly making their way back, OKC still has a chance to not only get back into the playoffs but climb the standings into the middle of the pack.
“We’ve always been a 0-0 team,” Woods said. We try and focus on stuff that doesn’t have to do with outcomes, and the outcomes speak for themselves. I think this is a great opportunity for that to be tested.”
Great story!!!