I swear, as soon as Enes Kanter steps onto the court, it seems like free assists for Russell Westbrook. Like that’s his only reason for existing: to be a dime-receptacle for a guy who wants a triple double every game.
The Thunder coaching staff have definitely told him the game plan. Get to a spot where Russ can pass you the ball, and when he does, shoot it quickly enough that he would get an assist for it. That goes for the rest of the team as well, but Kanter is well-equipped to get more than his share of passes/resultant buckets.
Too bad his defense is, apparently (I can’t verify, remember, I don’t care about defense at all), cataclysmically bad, so OKC can only play him 20 minutes per contest. His situation is basically the same as Greg Monroe’s in Milwaukee; talented player who can put up stats, but is bad enough defensively to warrant only limited minutes, usually against bench lineups.
Luckily for the Thunder tonight, the Knicks have no bigs who could really hurt them in the paint. Porzingis, sure, if he’s not hanging around the three-point line. But not O’Quinn or Noah or Hernangomez or Marshall Plumlee if that dude were to even get minutes. It was basically a free pass for Kanter to not play D and use the energy saved to go to the other end and dominate them.