OKC Thunder solid play has quietly flown under radar at quarter mark – progress report
By Gideon Lim
Reviewing the new playing style:
For any Thunder fan, there are two things to know about how the game is being played this season. One, OKC Thunder basically decided to screw building a proper half-court offense and place more emphasis on its run-and-gun game. Two, the Thunder are not alone – the entire league has been playing at a historic pace. And that has been good for the Thunder offense.
Playing fast helps the Thunder’s offense because it simplifies things. Whoever gets the rebound is licensed to attack the defense, even if that person is Paul George or Dennis Schroder.
Looking at the numbers, rebounding was more evenly distributed in the past. Up to seven players accounted for more than 5 percent of the team’s rebounds, including the players without ballhandling duties, like Corey Brewer and Andre Roberson. Today, apart from our starting bigs, PG, Schroder and Westbrook are the only ones to take up more than 3 percent of the team’s rebounds.
Likewise, the eye test tells the same story.
On back-to-back possessions, someone other than Russell Westbrook goes coast-to-coast and finishes the play. It looks simple, but we’ve never seen Westbrook look so at home off-the-ball before.
It’s still iso-heavy, and I’m not sure this playing philosophy solves any of our crunch time issues. But it’s almost like Billy Donovan is taking a page out of Mike D’Antoni‘s book. Keep it simple, and play to your strengths.
And, talking about strengths …