Film Room: Thunder pieces starting to find their own place
By Gideon Lim
The OKC Thunder dominated Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Milwaukee Bucks in a blowout 110-91 win. From the looks of it, Thunder players are starting to establish their own niche on the team.
Before tonight’s game, the Oklahoma City Thunder seemed to struggle with figuring out their offense. But against the Bucks, the Thunder faced no such issue.
Patrick Patterson’s comeback could be real
Coming into the game, Patrick Patterson looked like the odd man out. Initially, Patterson was touted as one of the biggest steals of the offseason. Following the blockbuster Carmelo Anthony trade, Patrick Patterson was cosigned to the bench. Coupled with his knee injury, Patterson started the season shooting a torrid 33% from the field on reduced minutes.
Tonight, Patrick Patterson took a big step towards reasserting himself in Billy Donovan’s mind. He had a perfect night from beyond the arc, and his growing confidence showed. Pulling out towards the corner pocket, Patterson pulled straight up to stroke home the three-pointer. He finished with a season-high 24 minutes.
The Funaki is for real
Amidst a star-studded line-up, Steven Adams has been the OKC Thunder’s best player this season. Adams has seen a career high in almost all categories. In particular, his true shooting percentage has climbed by more than 10 percentage points.
Intuitively, Adams’ improved shooting appears to come from the Thunder’s improved shooting. But in this play, notice how Jerami Grant, Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams are all on the strong side. That’s not exactly a recipe for spacing.
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Having more shooters definitely helps. But Adams’ rise has been just as much about Russell Westbrook. With less offensive burden to carry, Westbrook has taken his game to another level. This season, Westbrook’s passing has been sharper, dribble penetration more suffocating and game awareness even more enlightened. Facing a sea of defenders, Westbrook nonchalantly picks out Adams for the monster oop.
Release the Carmelo
During the offseason I looked through game film and argued that Carmelo Anthony, not Paul George, should be running the bench unit. Tonight – and the last few games in general – that argument looked spot on.
Billy Donovan ran a few lineups where Melo was the lone star with the bench unit. The lineup comprised mostly complementary shooters for Melo Under this environment and the big man thrived.
Anthony had free reign to go full “Hoodie Melo” on the Bucks defense. He alternated between midrange isolations and pinch post passing. Instead of cringe-worthy ball-stopping, these small dosages of bully-ball proved unstoppable. Even the Greek Freak struggled to contain Melo for long.
Under the rug
The Thunder still have a long way to go before achieving their potential. Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics will be a good test of the team’s progress. In the meantime, the Thunder should be satisfied with tonight’s game. Chemistry will inevitably be this team’s biggest concern. Tonight, at least, that issue looked like it was ready to be swept under the rug.