Five takeaways from the Thunder’s dominant win against the Warriors
By Tony Heim
This helps, but the Thunder haven’t figured it out yet
This goes along with what we just talked about. There’s a clear brand for Oklahoma City basketball this season: cause chaos on the defensive end and turn it into quick offensive opportunities. The Thunder forced 22 turnovers last night, resulting in 33 fast break points.
Paul George and Carmelo Anthony both hit wide-open pull-up threes. Russell Westbrook got a few breakaway buckets. The Thunder recorded their fourth-highest pace of the season on Wednesday, against the very team that makes their living off of beating teams in transition.
It’s important that Oklahoma City understands this wasn’t the perfect game no matter what the scoreboard says. Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony all shot the ball well even with the Warriors playing solid defense. 61% of the Thunder’s field goals were unassisted, meaning most of their points came in isolation. OKC can’t count on all three of their offensive stars playing like that in a seven-game series.
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The same goes on the defensive end. The Thunder forced 22 turnovers, yes, but they also gave up open looks that the Warriors usually make. Klay Thompson isn’t going to shoot 3-12 every night. Steph Curry isn’t going to miss multiple open threes like he did last night. To defend Golden State you have to disrupt their rhythm without getting overzealous – they did some of that in the teams’ first matchup.
I’m not taking away from what Oklahoma City accomplished last night; the Thunder outplayed the defending champs after two heartbreaking losses. It’s important, however, to note that they can be even better than they were last night.
16 assists usually won’t be enough. They should aim to score more than 40 points in the paint. They’ll need more than 12 bench points when these two teams meet again.
Thanksgiving Eve was a turning point for this Thunder team. They aren’t close to reaching their peak, but a win like this will do wonders for a squad who has struggled to find any sort of consistency this season.
It’s a good thing they have 65 more games to figure it out.