Isaiah Roby and Ty Jerome Stayed Ready to Help Fuel OKC in First Win
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder have no set rotation.
Head coach Mark Daigneault said as much after the Thunder (1-4) picked up their first win of the season in a 26-point comeback against the Los Angeles Lakers (2-3) to win 123-115.
Having no set role can be tough for bench guys in the NBA, but Isaiah Roby and Ty Jerome played their parts to perfection on Wednesday against LA.
On Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors, Roby played just two minutes and Jerome was a healthy scratch. One night later, the duo combined to log nearly 21 minutes, and they played a big role in Oklahoma City’s second half comeback.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that we believe in and that we think are going to continue to improve with opportunity,” Daigneault said after the win. “… The guys that are out there and are performing and that have it on a given night, it may be their night.”
On Wednesday night, especially defensively, it was Roby’s night.
The third-year big came in and added some defensive mettle to the Thunder lineup, doing a nice job helping to slow down Lakers center Anthony Davis.
While Davis scored 15 points in the second half, he did it on 6-of-13 shooting, much less efficient than his 6-of-9 performance in the opening 24 minutes.
“Isaiah goes in there and gave us a jolt,” Daigneault said. “… I was happy for him because he struggled in Houston. We didn’t really go back to him that much since then, and he kept himself ready. And then right when we needed him, he emerged.”
Isaiah Roby had his best game against the Lakers since the preseason, when he checked reigning MVP Nikola Jokic
Alonzo Adams / USA TODAY Sports
Roby finished the night with 13 points off the bench, adding two rebounds and an assist for the evening.
On the other end of the floor, Jerome stepped in to help orchestrate the offense.
Though his work won’t really show up on the final stat sheet, the former Virginia guard finished with just three points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal, but he brought a calm to the Thunder offense and helped the team work out of the 41-19 hole they dug themselves in the first half.
“Ty’s the type of player, he wins,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said of Jerome after the win. “… He makes plays that don’t show up in box scores. For the most part makes the right play every time.
“… He wins in every situation that he’s in and he came in and gave us those minutes that really propelled us to winning.”
Jerome ended the night with the best box score +/- for Oklahoma City, a plus-28 when it was all said and done.
But the key for any young player is to continue to build on success, and Roby and Jerome will both have that opportunity on Saturday night when the Thunder hit the road for a rematch with the Golden State Warriors.
Tip-off from the Chase Center in San Fransisco is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.
