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Commanding the offense, Bennett Stirtz utilized Christoph Tilly's screen like a pick-and-roll maestro he was billed to be. He dribbled his way to the top of the key. Swishing in another pull-up outside jumper, we finally saw him unveil the microwave-scoring aspect of his game at Summer League.
The Oklahoma City Thunder remain winless in Summer League. Traveling to Las Vegas, they fell in a 96-84 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The offensive woes continue. More importantly, though, the guy they traded up for finally flashed.
Stirtz finished with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting and two assists. He shot 3-of-8 from 3 and went 1-of-1 on free throws. He also had one steal and one block.
Now this is what we're talking about. Finally, Stirtz enjoyed some shooting luck. I liked his process in Utah. The results obviously weren't there. But after he scored OKC's opening bucket on a driving layup, the rim finally returned to being on talking terms with him.
The more the ball was in Stirtz's hands, the more confidence he gained. With each passing dribble, he got into a flow. The rhythm scorer finally found a groove as the Thunder allowed him to be the primary ball-handler. He had 13 points in the second half. Looking at his shot chart, the jumper finally fell for him.
Stirtz showcased his range with a couple of deep 3-pointers. And even on your run-of-the-mill corner attempt, he drilled in the shot despite being heavily contested. Not just a one-level scorer, he also showed he can take it to the cup or pull up in traffic inside of the paint.
Just a really great outing for Stirtz. He was the only salvageable part of this snoozefest. Great to see him show he can get on a heater. His Utah stint started to conjure up some uncomfortable conversations about his ability to put up points at the NBA level in the same way he did at Iowa.
"I just gotta trust it more often. I'm not used to catch-and-shoot 3s. I had some open ones and I passed them up. I gotta just let the ball fly. Trust my shot," Stirtz said. "Trusted it later in the game, so that was good. I just got to continue to stack it and be better."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Bennett Stirtz finally breaks out in OKC's Summer League loss to Lakers
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