Oklahoma City Thunder: Fun night of lineups in Phoenix

The Thunder’s 102-90 victory over Phoenix on Monday was a very instructive game. It told us a lot about the Thunder, which is unusual for a victory over a bad team.

But Monday night, the Thunder was without Serge Ibaka (chest bruise), which opened the door for more minutes from seldom-used players. And Scotty Brooks used the occasion to experiment.

In a game that wasn’t completely sealed until the final minute or so, Brooks used 10 players at least 61/2 minutes. He used Perry Jones III in the first half. He played Hasheem Thabeet 211/2 minutes and Nick Collison only 151/2. DeAndre Liggins played 14:14 even though Thabo Sefolosha was back in the fold.

So I had some fun with lineups. Brooks used 14 lineup combinations. And some were wild and crazy. It was a good night to examine what works and what doesn’t. Here were the lineup combinations:

Collison, Durant, Perkins, Sefolosha, Westbrook: Played 10:31, outscored Phoenix 25-22.

Durant, Martin, Perkins, Sefolosha, Westbrook: Played 9:44 and outscored Phoenix 31-19.

Durant, Jackson, Liggins, Martin, Thabeet: Played 4:48 and was outscored 9-13.

Durant, Martin, Sefolosha, Thabeet, Westbrook: Played 3:49 and outscored Phoenix 12-3.

Durant, Jackson, Jones, Martin, Thabeet: Played 3:07 and outscored Phoenix 5-2.

Durant, Liggins, Martin, Thabeet, Westbrook: Played 2:54 and was outscored 1-2.

Jackson, Jones, Liggins, Martin, Thabeet: Played 2:35 and outscored Phoenix 6-1.

Collison, Durant, Martin, Perkins, Westbrook: Played 2:28 and was outscored 2-7.

Durant, Martin, Perkins, Thabeet, Westbrook: Played 1:34 and outscored Phoenix 5-2.

Liggins, Martin, Perkins, Thabeet, Westbrook: Played 1:24 and was outscored 2-7.

Durant, Liggins, Perkins, Sefolosha, Westbrook: Played 1:17 and was outscored 3-7.

Jackson, Jones, Lamb, Liggins, Thabeet: Played 1:05 and tied 2-2.

Collison, Durant, Martin, Thabeet, Westbrook: Played 13 seconds and outscored Phoenix 2-0.