Oklahoma City Thunder: Five Positives from Houston Heart-Breaker
By Tony Heim
5. Jerami Grant the Small-Ball…Center?
When I saw Donovan roll this out in crunch time of the fourth quarter, I couldn’t figure out if I was morbidly upset or ridiculously excited. I mean this a guy who did this…
This Jerami Grant block on James Harden is ruthless.
— SB Nation NBA 🏀 (@SBNationNBA) December 10, 2016
(via @NBA) https://t.co/KpHKMnyHTN
And this…
Jerami Grant ✋! It's a 2-point game. 2:46 left in OKC. #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/A0T401aiTC
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 10, 2016
AND this…
Jerami Grant jumps higher than me. https://t.co/afPSFN0Glr
— Boomtown Hoops (@BoomtownHoops) December 10, 2016
AND THIS…
Jerami Grant! Follow SLAM.
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 10, 2016
Headed to 4th, Thunder down by 9. #OKCvsHOU pic.twitter.com/zSup5ygn4Z
…all in one night.
Grant is making it very difficult for me to pick who my favorite Thunder player is. The last two weeks had me leaning towards Victor Oladipo, than all of those ^^^ happened. But Grant is more than just a high-energy player. At 22-years old his combination of size, athleticism and basketball-first mentality is a perfect fit in the Oklahoma City organization.
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With the Westbrook-Oladipo-Morrow-Roberson-Grant lineup, nobody can touch the Thunder in transition. Theycan switch on every screen, as long as the opponents is also playing a similar-style lineup (which is what Houston did).
Defensive rebounding became a serious issue when Grant was playing center, though, and that’s something Donovan will have to address if he wants to use that lineup again. Houston had 6 of their 16 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter; those extra possessions were a large reason for the loss
We’ve only seen this lineup for 10 minutes this season according to nba.com, but it does have a positive +/- rating. Not saying this should be a primary lineup, but in certain situations this miniscule-ball lineup could work well for the Thunder.