Stiles Points: Rest vs Rust, OKC Thunder Look To Avoid Stumping out of the Break

The Oklahoma City Thunder return tonight after an eight-day All-Star Break and will be tested right out of the gate. The Thunder (37-17) have a date with the L.A. Clippers (36-17) in the Paycom Center.

Oklahoma City will look to avoid stumbling out of the break, which leads to the typical "rest vs rust" conversation. A year ago, this young roster dropped five straight after returning to the floor from All-Star Weekend. While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did miss four of the five contests, the upstart group looked a bit rusty in addition to missing their star.

"[At practice today, we] tried to do a lot of passing, catching, rhythm type stuff, typically coming out of All-Star Break that is the biggest challenge trying to get everybody back in the rhythm of what real basketball game feels like. Played a little bit live today, did some drill work where we had to pass and catch," Mark Daigneault said following Wednesday's practice ahead of the Thunder's matchup with the Clippers.

The Thunder will come out of the All-Star Break with the Clippers, Wizards (on a back-to-back), Rockets, Rockets, and Spurs as their first five games back. That is an extremely manageable stretch of the schedule, which should set a tone for the remainder of the season with three of the five games at the Paycom Center.

With a 4.5-game cushion over the fifth seed, the Thunder have put themselves in the driver's seat to host a playoff series at the end of the season. How this young team handled their first five games out of the All-Star Break will go a long way in defining if they can finish in the top four of the wild Western Conference.

Stiles Points

Doc Rivers is once again saying he knew Gilgeous-Alexander would eventually turn into a superstar, and even so much as asked Kawhi Leonard to consider giving it a year or two for Gilgeous-Alexander to catch up rather than making the splash trade for Paul George. Sure, that is easy to say after the fact, and we will never know if this truly happened or not. I do not doubt Rivers, like Presti, knew Gilgeous-Alexander would be a great player someday, but I doubt that he was thinking that long-term when he had the chance to coach a championship-level team right away with the move.
Both the Thunder and Clippers have turned in clean injury reports, making the NBA in store for a treat as two of the best teams in the NBA go head-to-head out of the All-Star Break.
In the final 28 games, it will be interesting to see if Cason Wallace's playmaking upticks. This is something he was tasked with doing in college and has flashed at the NBA level; putting more responsibility on the rookie during the home stretch of the season could raise the Thunder's ceiling.
Gordon Hayward is set to make his OKC Thunder debut on Thursday, as the veteran forward has not played in seven weeks. Be cautious not to overreact to rotations or performance in his first game back since Santa Claus was in town.
Bismack Biyombo might not play a large role on the floor, but his mentorship, especially to Jaylin Williams, could pay dividends for the Thunder down the line. Biyombo showing the Arkansas product tricks of the trade can take the 2022 second-round pick to the next level.

Song of the Day: Just My Imagination by The Temptations.

EXCLUSIVE: Keyontae Johnson Beats the Odds, with an NBA All-Star Weekend Appearance As Next Career Milestone

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