OKC Thunder got beat up by the Houston Rockets, but with some adjustments, Billy Donovan could set the squad up to steal Game 2 in Houston.
The OKC Thunder got completely blown out by the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their first-round playoff matchup. Still, Thunder fans should not go into panic mode yet. Last year, head coach Billy Donovan showed his ability to make adjustments after taking an early blowout loss. Since then, the Thunder have undergone serious personal changes. The hope remains the same, however. If Donovan can carve out a rotation solution while the role players on the team step up, the Thunder can still come back in this series.
1. Rotation
So much of the OKC Thunder’s loss was because of bad matchups. Even if you didn’t watch the game, Twitter would have given you a good idea of that. There were endless clips of Enes Kanter getting roasted by James Harden in isolation. Even the reputably sturdy Steven Adams could barely hold his own on matchups out on the perimeter. And, Norris Cole had a really weird five-minute run out early in the game.
Billy Donovan has much to figure out, starting with his frontcourt.
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Five months ago, Adams would have seemed like the most trusty option for Donovan. Adams was a dominant interior defender who could hold his own guarding wing players. On offense, there was the hope of him being the Thunder’s secondary isolation threat with his staple of left block post ups.
Now, Adams is a completely different player. He regularly gets lost on pick-and-roll coverage, doesn’t seem to relish his early isolation plays the way he used to and hesitates when it comes to offering help defense.
The Central Problem
The problem with this is that Adams is the Thunder’s best two-way big.
When the bench units were trotted out, Kanter started off going at Nene. However, his poor lateral quickness quickly became too big of a magnet for pick-and-roll action. Taj Gibson was solid both on defense and offense, but he doesn’t offer the same upside that both Kanter and Adams do.
There are two potential wild cards for Donovan to turn to. One is Jerami Grant. There have been whispers for a small-ball line-up involving Grant and Gibson. Both will survive on pick-and-roll coverage and might give OKC the ability to stay hyper twitchy-switchy.
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The second one is Domantas Sabonis. I’m going to qualify this by saying this is highly-unlikely because I’m not sure the playoffs are the best time to expose the rookie. But on paper, I think Sabonis has something to offer Donovan. He is a solid defender and can shoot the three ball better than any of the Thunder’s bigs.
The Rockets have drawn first blood against the Thunder by rampaging all over their bigs. Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni will be awaiting for Donovan’s counter move in what should be a fascinating chess battle for the rest of the series.