OKC Thunder: Reason for optimism – top 5 takeaways from game 1 loss
Glimmers of what is to come:
Despite playing like they were stuck in mud for most of the first half the Thunder made a game of it and much of that can be credited to their defense.
Facing the team who’ll likely lead the Association for perimeter efficiency the Thunder held the Dubs to 26.9 percent efficiency. The same can’t be said for OKC’s interior defense which allowed a gawdy 58 points in the paint. The discrepancy by night end favored GSW plus -24 while the Thunder scored only 34 points in the paint.
This was partially due to Adams simply not be fully healthy as he missed gimmes he’ll regularly make. The return of Westbrook will also undoubtedly up the paint scoring as well.
Returning to the Noel and Grant pairing there are true signs of this duo becoming something special for the Thunder. Although the Warriors still scored on this duo most teams aren’t the offensive juggernaut that is the Warriors. This second unit when paired with Diallo and eventually Schroder has the potential to be a shutdown defensive unit.
If Steven Adams can’t go tonight, Nerlens Noel will get extended minutes. Patrick Patterson says Noel/Adams practice battles, their relentlessness rubs off on rest of team: pic.twitter.com/4tPKUkUkTJ
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) October 16, 2018
To reiterate, Patterson does the little things and frequently stopped or changed Warriors possessions especially in the third frame. Likewise Diallo did a decent job defending Thompson forcing him to pass or utilize the dribble (something we’re not accustomed to seeing from Klay).
The crazy possession which had the ball zooming all over the court and almost out of bounds twice in the third (4:40ish mark) demonstrated the athleticism of the Thunder. It also pointed to their length which was a very real problem for Golden State. Moving forward, once Russell returns and (counting the days) Andre Roberson rejoins the team they will be deadly on defense. Still, I expect OKC to be top five defensively, and potentially higher (if they can resolve the defensive glass).