OKC Thunder: Reason for optimism – top 5 takeaways from game 1 loss
Grab the Windex:
It’s been noted frequently on Thunderous Intentions (we hear you Lawrence George) that the OKC Thunder would suffer if they didn’t address defensive rebounding. Last night may be a microcosm of the Thunder glass issues, but the proof is in the box score. The Warriors who seemingly needed to buy shares in Windex after preseason completely owned it last night.
While preseason offers a small sample size and isn’t necessarily a harbinger of when games count it did offer the benchmark. Specifically, the OKC Thunder nabbed a league best 16.0 offensive rebounds on average in preseason and equaled that mark last night. The defensive glass was another issue entirely. The Dubs out rebounded the Thunder 41 to 30 on the defensive glass. Albeit, Steven Adams was less than 100 percent which was made obvious by his movement and lack of leaping ability.
Hamidou Diallo to the bench after some solid minutes in his NBA debut, and immediately sits down next to Andre Roberson who has been coaching him up for the last few minutes.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) October 17, 2018
In spite of Adams health this pointed to the need for more effort from others on the boards. Again, I’ll point to Diallo, who if nothing else can be counted on to bring energy and crash the boards. Certainly his 4.5 rebound (preseason average) would’ve come in handy and in his limited minutes, unlike Ferguson didn’t seem hesitant. Instead Hami displayed the invincible confidence that comes from youngsters who’ve yet to learn they should be tentative.
Obviously once Westbrook is back and Adams is healthy it will address some of the rebounding issues. And, as the combination of Nerlens Noel and Grant continues to meld there should be additional gains recognized. That said, the defensive glass needs to a point of emphasis in every pre-game chalkboard session.