Donovan’s dishes – December brings nothing new for Thunder

We’ve officially reached the third month of the NBA season, yet we saw another inconsistent week from the OKC Thunder.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had another one of those weeks. In their first matchup the Thunder took revenge on the Utah Jazz, beating them 100-94 on the back of Russell Westbrook and a fourth quarter from heaven.

After a day off, the OKC Thuinder were one of the teams involved in the NBA Mexico games. Unfortunately, they took on the Brooklyn Nets and lost 95-100. This was the first game Paul George had missed and the Thunder fell apart in the final quarter.

The third game of the week was against the Memphis Grizzlies. This game had everything. The OKC Thunder were undermanned with George out again. This time x-factor Jerami Grant returned after missing the Brooklyn contest. Fortunately, the OKC Thunder was able to squeak home with a 102-101 overtime win.

Let’s take a look at some of the best Dishes from coach Billy Donovan.

That Utah game

For a good part of the game against the Utah Jazz, I was not really into it. Everyone not named Westbrook was having a shocking game. Even the future Hall-of-Fame point guard was off his best. Then came the fourth quarter, which will hopefully spur the OKC Thunder on to bigger and better things.

What was the difference between the first three quarters and the last period? In Donovan’s opinion, it really comes down to the shots which are taken. It sounds basic but the difference between someone taking a long contested two versus a dunk through penetration and dishing is amazing.

Westbrook’s utilization of Steven Adams has been masterful. The Big Kiwi has come up huge in many games. Get him under the rim with only one man to beat, he will score most times.

Even Carmelo Anthony is taking less contested two’s and playing more in the post. When he does this, he scores more.

Adams gets an A

Steven Adams has been a monster these last few games. While a certain member of the Big 3 has struggled, Adams has been picking up the slack. However, according to Donovan (and me), Adams is quite simply taking advantage of the space being afforded him because of the shooting prowess of Paul George and Carmelo Anthony.

Last year, Adams was stifled because opposition defenders were packing the paint to stop Westbrook. Now, with the floor spacing on the court the OKC Thunder have now, Adams has space to work. Westbrook knows how to find the big Kiwi and Adams never stops looking at Westbrook on offense.

Adams is working really hard to get good position on offense to be open for a Westbrook pass. Even George has been finding him at the rim.  The other area of his game which is benefiting the OKC Thunder greatly is his offensive rebounding. The Big Kiwi is sitting third in the NBA with 4.7 offensive rebounds per game.

This is a the potential for five extra shots per game, a huge number considering Westbrook is known to be a volume shooter and Anthony’s shot is not falling as it should. However, as Erik Horne said, it seems like Donovan is holding back something about Anthony.

Next: Grading Thunder's loss to Charlotte

On Carmelo

One of the more interesting questions a reporter can ask is whether a player is lacking confidence. If Anthony was a first or second year player who had just come to a new team led by Russell Westbrook, I might believe he was lacking confidence.

Fortunately, this is Carmelo Anthony, one of the greatest shooters of all time. He is not lacking confidence, he is just not in rhythm. I seem to remember similar comments being made about Paul George earlier in the season

Anthony has shot really poorly lately, but has come up big in moments where he has been required.  Coach Donovan is happy with the shots Anthony is getting, he just needs to make them. When Anthony starts making fifty percent more of his shots, the OKC Thunder will be hard to stop.

Come back next week for more of Donovan’s Dishes.