Oklahoma City Thunder bench figure it out
In order to win the title, the Thunder bench need to play like they did against Sacramento
The Thunder bench fired as a unit for the first time this year against Sacramento and what was the result? The Thunder won. Why did it happen this game? Why not the previous 59 of this season? Was it the sight one of their superstars, Kevin Durant, getting so frustrated that he got in a pushing match with DeMarcus Cousins? Was it the fact that they have gone 1-5 since the All Star break? Or was it simply that the right pieces were on the floor and they figured out how to play together effectively?
Personally, I think that it is a combination of all of the above. I have watched the Thunder for years, and since the trade that brought Enes Kanter to the Thunder, I have been of the belief that the Thunder offense needs to run through him when he is on the floor. Hear me out on this. Yes Durant and
Was it the sight one of their superstars, Kevin Durant, getting so frustrated that he got in a pushing match with DeMarcus Cousins
are mega stars, probably one of the best combinations to play in the NBA ever, which is well known, but when Kanter is on the floor, there might be more space for the two stars if the offense runs through him. Watch below to see how Kanter just never stopped moving on offense, making sure that Cousins has to concentrate on him.
If Kanter is on the floor with the second unit, then he is too good on offense for opposing teams not to collapse in on him. This leaves outside shooters of the caliber of Randy Foye, Dion Waiters, Kyle Singler and Anthony Morrow open. Any player in this league who shoots threes with any regularity will knock them down at a better rate when wide open
Kanter himself also has good range, He hit 11 from 11 against Sacramento (23 points). Within that perfect shooting night he hit two from beyond 18 feet. There are very few second unit defenses that can contain a shooting center like that. The flow on effects from this are then easy to see. Waiters no longer has to rely on the step back to beat his opponent and he actually hits some shots– 8-11, to be precise — on his way to 22 points. He also hit three from five from outside the arc, going at 60 percent, well up from his season average of 36 percent. Singler also went three from five from beyond the arc on his way to 11 points.
The bench players combined to play 110 minutes for the game compared to the starters playing 132. The starters combined to score 67 points, while the second unit scored 64. This is the first time all season that the second unit has even been close to matching the starters.
A major piece of the puzzle that I have not yet covered is Foye. How can one player who scores less than four points per game whilst playing for the Thunder make such a difference? Simply put, respect from opponents, experience in big games and the ability to create his own shot which the Thunder bench lacked last year. Foye has made a living in this league as a shooter, and even at the age of 32 he had a massive 31 point night for Denver this year.
He still has what it takes. Foye took seven shots against Sacramento. He only made two of them but it was where he took them from that was telling. Every shot he took was from beyond the three-point arc. Foye must be guarded from outside three. He is a career 37 percent shooter from the land of plenty. This creates spacing on the floor for Kanter to go to work from inside the paint or from near 20 feet. With more space on the floor, Waiters and Singler can then have more open looks at the basket, which could lead to them shooting at a better clip than they have all season.
This also means that coach Donovan can rest his superstars more, keeping them fresher and with less minutes on the floor lowering the risk of injury. Durant played 32 minutes against Sacramento — four minutes less than his season average. He even sat off the final six minutes of the game, a time when the body is fatigued and injuries can happen. In a long season of 82 games, if Durant can play four minutes less a game for an entire season, then this equates to 328 minutes less per season. Divide this by 48 and it becomes 6.8 games less in the body of your superstar player. When East meets West to decide the best team in the NBA, this is decided over seven games. I know it is not as simple as that but when Cleveland met Golden State, Cleveland was running out of players
The season is long and grueling and benches can make or break a team. Let’s hope that the Thunder bench has just clicked as a unit and have taken the pressure off Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka, possibly propelling the Thunder to a championship.