He had eight points in four minutes. He hit two critical threes down the stretch and he was perfect from his short time on the floor. There’s no doubt that Daequan Cook made the most of his time on the court in game five of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. In fact, the Thunder might not have won 108-103 without him.
After the game, his teammates and head coach were singing his praises. Yet no one seemed surprised that he was able to step up in the national spotlight when the game was on the line.
“He’s a true professional,” Harden said after the game. “Daequan works all the time on that shot. That’s what the Thunder is about, is work. When his name was called him came in and hit two big threes and got that floater. He gave us some very good minutes when he was in.”
His head coach agreed. Scott Brooks praised Cook after the game for his ability to maintain focus in spite of time on the bench.
“DC (Cook), I give him a lot of credit,” Brooks said. “One of the toughest things to do in this league is to stay ready. Everybody talks about it and he’s done that. He’s worked and cheered and did everything in his power to get an opportunity to be ready and he did a great job.”
Cook averaged 5.5 points in the regular season for the Thunder.