OKC needs a lot of work in transition
If you take only one thing away from this game, it should be just how unprepared the OKC Thunder were to deal with a team that runs as much as the Kings, especially on defense. OKC was regularly a disaster on the defensive end tonight. They were consistently unable to mark up when Sacramento decided to push the pace and giving up a ton of open shots because of it.
The Kings run more than pretty much anyone in the league (ranked second in pace) so it’s not a huge deal that OKC wasn’t ready to deal with it.
Still, given the way the NBA as a whole is getting out in transition this season, it’s definitely something the Thunder need to address. They have the talent to not only hang on in transition but to thrive–as I’ll get to in a minute here. To do that, the Thunder need to be significantly more disciplined than they were tonight.