Brooks Experimenting with Substitutions
Thunder coach Scott Brooks rarely deviates from his substitution pattern. But when injuries mounted, Brooks had to start getting creative.
One of the ways he’s done that lately is by shortening Kevin Durant’s court time at the start of the game. Durant generally plays either all 12 minutes of the first quarter or gets subbed out with about two minutes remaining in the opening period. In a couple of recent games, including Wednesday at Philadelphia, however, Brooks sat Durant with 4 1/2 minutes left in the first period.
“I try to mix it up with him, just to give our second unit a different look,” Brooks said. “It’s really game-to-game. I like changing it up with him. I don’t do it often. “But with Kevin, he’s going to get his minutes because they’re always played hard and he’s one of our better players. But it really wasn’t anything other than just giving the second unit a different look.”
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