This may or may not be common knowledge but I’m here to tell you know that the Oklahoma City Thunder may have the best zone offense in the NBA.

Keys to beating a zone include: good perimeter shooting, ability to penetrate, good ball movement and hitting the offensive glass. The Thunder demonstrated the ability to do all of these against the Suns.

Kevin Durant and James Harden took care of the three-point shooting, Russell Westbrook slashed and dashed through the Suns zone and Serge Ibaka pulled down nine offensive rebounds.

Here are some of the best possessions Oklahoma City had against Phoenix’s zone.

Early in the third quarter the Suns come out in a matchup 2-3 zone. Westbrook advances into the front court then swings it to Daequan Cook on the left wing with Durant in the left corner.

Durant comes up to get the ball at the wing and Ibaka comes over to set a screen on Jared Dudley. Durant uses it and Steve Nash comes over to help and Durant kicks out to Westbrook on the wing. Grant Hill then has to decide now to run out to Westbrook and leave Cook open in the corner.

Hill jabs at Westbrook then retreats and Westbrook immediately penetrates at Marcin Gortat. This is usually where we’d see Westbrook try and take on Gortat and draw a foul and finish at the rim. Westbrook collectedly gets into the paint and sees Ibaka now rolling to the rim.

Westbrook dumps it off to Ibaka who gets a pretty easy dunk. The Thunder made all of the right reads here and moved the ball quickly and efficiently to get the easy dunk.

The next play is at the end of the third quarter with Phoenix again in a 2-3 zone. The Thunder try a set play here with Westbrook bringing it up on the right wing and Durant is looking to set a back pick on the opposite guard for Harden to get a three on the left wing.

Harden catches on the wing but doesn’t have the shot as Dudley helps up for Nash. The Suns zone is already in trouble here and way out of position.

Harden quickly hits Durant at the foul line as Nash and Dudley converge on him. All of the focus then goes to Durant who now has the ball in the middle of the paint.

Durant makes a great read here seeing Ibaka diving on the left block with no one on him. Ibaka finishes quickly and strongly with another dunk.

The final play comes with 4:00 minutes left in the game. Oklahoma City has gone small to close the game and is using Durant around the free throw line to beat the zone. Phoenix is again in 2-3.

Durant comes up to set a pick for Westbrook then flattens out to the right wing. Nash goes with Durant and Westbrook sees the slight opening in the middle of zone and drives hard at Dudley.

Once Westbrook gets into the paint like that it’s all but over for the Suns’ zone. All of the attention goes to him and he makes the easy pass kicking out to Harden in the corner for the three which he drills.

The Thunder, like the Miami Heat, may see a lot of zone once the playoffs start because a lot of teams can’t really match up with them man-to-man. But the Thunder are better put together to beat the zone than the Heat are.

The Thunder’s zone offense may prove to be an integral weapon to their road to the NBA Finals this season.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

I wrote a few days ago about the Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka connection. When they team up it results in a very high field goal percentage for Ibaka.

The knock on Westbrook this season has been his assist numbers which are down quite a bit. Put that together with Ibaka not having the breakout year in terms of scoring that many expected and there’s a definite point of emphasis for the Thunder this year.

Oklahoma City has been criticized for not having enough scoring options on their team. Last night they beat the Phoenix Suns 115-104 with only five players scoring. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden each scored over 30 points, Ibaka had 18 and Kendrick Perkins six.

The key last night was also Westbrook having 10 assists. A couple of times when we are used to seeing Westbrook pull-up for a jump shot or forcefully attack the rim, he held up and passed off. He did so particularly well with Ibaka.

Ibaka had nine field goals made in the game and four were assisted from Westbrook. One was for a layup and the other three mid range jumpers, the shot Scott Brooks raves about Ibaka’s ability to make.

That was definitely a very good sign for the Thunder last night in their win. Ibaka’s confidence has to be growing this season leading the NBA in blocks and starting for the team with the best record in the league.

He’s not shy about taking his mid range jumper and he gets open for it quite a bit, it will just be up to Westbrook to continue finding him for it.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The Thunder have to be the most exciting team to watch in the NBA this season. And they also have had some of the more memorable box scores this season.

The Thunder had their Big Three each score 30 or more points and Serge Ibaka come two points shy of a 20-20 game.

Oklahoma City beat Phoenix 115-104 and only five players scored for the Thunder. Kendrick Perkins had six.

For three quarters it was not Kevin Durant’s night. He struggled mightily from the field and simply was not letting the game come to him, and he usually does.

Trailing 84-68 with 4:13 left in the third quarter, Oklahoma City would cut the deficit to just 88-84 by the end of the quarter. The Thunder were on a 30-7 run with eight minutes left in the fourth and ahead 98-90.

Durant after a frustrating night in which he didn’t feel he got the calls he should have, got going in the fourth and scored 12 points to give him 30 on the night.

Durant got into foul trouble picking up two cheapies in the first and Russell Westbrook and James Harden stepped up. With Harden in the Thunder finished the first period strong but still trailed 34-25.

Steve Nash had seven assists in the first and Marcin Gortat 12 points. Nash would get up to 13 assists by halftime but wouldn’t drop another dime the rest of the game.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Westbrook was schooled by Nash in the first half but came out with much better defense in the second half. Westbrook also matched Nash’s offense and then some as he scored 31 points and had 10 of his own assists.

Harden was a machine tonight off the bench and the Thunder were plus-27 when he was in the game. He scored 30 points on 12 shots and made 10-of-11 free throws.

With five minutes left in the third quarter, Royal Ivey entered the game for the first time. He did not score and missed all four of his three-point attempts but he played the rest of the game and the Thunder outscored Phoenix by 23 with him in.

Ivey certainly played great defense and helped stretch the floor on offense as Phoenix showed a lot of zone.

The Thunder were only able to go small in the fourth because of Ibaka’s career game and total control of the boards. Nine of Ibaka’s 20 rebounds were offensive too and he added three blocks as well. Ibaka and Westbrook would prove to be a very solid weapon for Oklahoma City’s offense tonight.

The Suns had 28 assists in the game with 23 of them coming in the first half. Oklahoma City did the most of their damage with 31 fast break points against the old knees of the Suns.

This game again felt like one that the Thunder should not have won for three quarters but then they just give their opponents too much to handle for 48 minutes to lose. They seem to never get tired and never give up in any game this season.

The Thunder now improve their NBA-best record to 31-8 this season and will play next Friday night when they host Cleveland (13-23).

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (1-game winning streak)
106.1 Offensive Efficiency (2nd)
99.1 Defensive Efficiency (12th)
96.0 Pace (5th)
56.7 True Shooting % (2nd)
51.6 Rebound Rate (4th)

Suns (3-game winning streak)
100.2 Offensive Efficiency (16th)
101.9 Defensive Efficiency (18th)
94.4 Pace (13th)
52.4 True Shooting % (13th)
48.7 Rebound Rate (24th)

The Thunder are coming off a nice win against Dallas two nights ago. The win gave Oklahoma City the season series at 3-1 and they came from behind in the final minutes to close out the defending champs.

Phoenix has won their last three games and five of their last six. They have been inconsistent this year despite the amazing play of Steve Nash and his new pick-and-roll partner, Marcin Gortat.

The Suns can still win a lot of games in this league playing their style. Their style just doesn’t bode well when matched up with the juggernaut Thunder.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Nash will have to contend with one of the best defenders in the league in Russell Westbrook as well as somehow try and slow Westbrook down at the other end. When Westbrook has matchups like this where he truly overmatches his counterpart in athleticism, he has really tried to take advantage of it this year and pretty much gets to whatever spot he wants.

The Suns have a ton of small forwards t throw out on the court but none are much match for Kevin Durant who is coming off a few recent games where he did have to face tough defenders.

The Suns can be at their best running and moving the ball around for open shots but that pace tonight will favor the hyper-athletes that the Thunder strut out onto the court.

Gortat has been a pleasant surprise for Phoenix this year but it doesn’t get much tougher than Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins protecting the paint.

Oklahoma City is susceptible to upsets from teams that hit the offensive glass and play great defense that forces turnovers. The Suns aren’t that team and with the game being played in Oklahoma City, the Thunder should walk all over Phoenix tonight.

These two teams met once earlier this season on New Year’s Eve with the Thunder winning 107-97. In that game Nash was held to eight points on 3-of-10 shooting. Durant only scored 12 and Westbrook 18 but it was the Thunder bench that really came through with 53 points.

James Harden had 10 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and Daequan Cook played especially well knocking down four treys.