Player grades: OKC Thunder drop Jazz via aggressive, motivated effort

The OKC Thunder send an early message to the Jazz they haven’t forgotten last April as they punish the Jazz from the tip.

As the OKC Thunder stepped to the line for tip off the opposing team staring back at them was very familiar. This because it was precisely the same starting five who knocked OKC out of the playoffs in Game 6 of the first round this past summer.

Not like the Thunder should have required extra motivation — their failure to close out the game in Chicago meant the top ladder rung eluded them once again this past week. And, with a tough week ahead facing four solid Western teams (Jazz, Pelicans, Nuggets, Clippers) they enter a more trying segment of their schedule. Although the talent level has ratcheted up, it’s a good time to test the OKC Thunder top ranked defense.

Tonight served as the first litmus test and they passed with flying colors. Are there still areas to clean up? Absolutely, but this was check mark one with three more waiting this week.

It was clear immediately how dialed in the OKC Thunder were. When Russell Westbrook is playing aggressive defense from the tip, you know good things will follow. The entire Thunder squad played with a sense of urgency giving this match a certain playoff quality.

Right away there was a discernible difference in energy between the squads however, which went beyond the fact Utah was playing on a back to back. A bright spot was the fact there was no let down when the bench crew came in. The only annoyance regarding the latter was Billy Donovan‘s hesitance to stick with the bench mob when they’re rolling as they were early. OKC fans are getting to bear witness of how solid this bench mob can become.

Donovan did go with the unit in the fourth quarter to help nurture the chemistry via more minutes and with a 24 point lead it made sense. Initially it worked with Schroder and Noel displaying their ever developing  pick and roll. The duo have the potential to make the move as lethal as Westbrook-Adams PNR.  More on this below.

The win didn’t come without minor issues and understandably with close to a 30 point lead it’s probably easier said than done (to not take your foot off the gas). Still, Donovan was forced to put Westbrook back in following a 14-3 run by Utah to make things interesting.

Let’s look at the grades.