The Austin Spurs completed a two-game sweep of the Oklahoma City Blue on Sunday afternoon – not only snapping the Blue’s three-game winning streak but putting them on a two-game skid, in what has been a difficult stretch of the season, littered with road games and missing pieces.
Two-way forward Brooks Barnhizer has found his stride in the NBA G League after a slow offensive start to his career at both levels. The Northwestern product was the best player on the floor this week, and his stint wraps up with a team-high 26-point outing on 9-for-13 shooting –– including an impressive mid-range step back bucket –- 0-for-2 from distance and 5-for-6 at the charity stripe, getting rewarded for hard drives off the catch and cuts, repeatable actions for once he rejoins the NBA club. On the defensive end, Barnhizer swiped two steals and was a +1 in his minutes during the Oklahoma City Blue’s 110-96 loss.
Barnhizer was one of four Blue players in double-figures. He was joined by Viktor Lakhin who finished with 25 points, five rebounds, a steal and two blocks in 22 minutes. Bucket-getting guard Jazmin Gortman returned to the Blue lineup in a big way with 20 points off the bench to couple with five rebounds, six assists and a steal.
Former Brooklyn Nets first-round pick Dariq Whitehead once again cracked double-figures in this game going for 11 points off the pine for the Blue with three rebounds while being a +11 in his 18 minutes of action helping Oklahoma City make a late surge in this game.
Ultimately, The Blue couldn’t stack enough stops, letting the Spurs shoot 52% from the floor and 43% from beyond the arc while the Austin Spurs also dominated the glass, 53-36, to help make up for the lobsided turnover margin as OKC created 24 turnovers to the Blue’s 14 giveaways.
Not only were the percentages on the Spurs side, they tossed in 16 triples on Sunday compared to the Blue’s seven makes from distance.
The OKC Blue will now get a chance to catch their breath, opening up a jaw-dropping nine-game home stand that spans the entire month of December and the first week of January. Home games are a premium in the G League, especially when you share an arena/city with your NBA club. This should make for plenty of games in this span where bench boss Daniel Dixon has his full compliment of two-way players available.