OKC Thunder vs. Jazz, 3 key takeaways: rivals, free throws and Paul George over everything

Bring back Adams free throw coach:

Remember the media presser where Steven Adams discussed how he improved his shooting from the charity stripe?  Well, for those who don’t it was a typical humorous exchange with Adams and the assembled press where the Big Kiwi had everyone giggling. Adams detailed how Thunder Assistant Coach Darko Rajakovic would basically get physical with him.

For every free throw, Steven missed Rajakovic would punch him in the stomach or hit him extremely hard on the arm.

"“He’ll come and, like, punch me in the stomach. Like, no joke. I swear to God,” Adams said. “He’ll come punch me in the stomach or slap me on the arm really hard, and he’ll just say like, ‘Make a free throw. Make two free throws.’ And I’m just like, ‘Uhhhh, okay. With that like kind of stress, or whatever it is (makes circling motion insinuating what is on his mind) you still have to try to stay locked in or focused of whatever it is. It’s not fun, I didn’t say it was fun mate.'”"

Now, I’m not suggesting the OKC Thunder employ this practice across the board. Rather, I bring it up to suggest perhaps a more logical solution, like employing a better shooting coach. As TI writer Stephen Dolan detailed in his investigative column on Andre Roberson utilizing Chris Matthews, aka Lethal Shooter this offseason.

Related: TI Case Confirmed: Lethal Shooter is working with Andre Roberson

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• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

On this night the OKC Thunder shot 14 of 22 from the line or 63.6 percent. Oddly, through the past few games, the Thunder perimeter shooting has improved to the point they are connecting above the league average (35.2%). In this match, OKC shot 9 for 25 (36.0%) from deep. Go figure.

On the season the Thunder rank 28th in the Association with a 70.8 percent free throw efficiency. Granted, there weren’t many opportunities to get to the stripe especially in the final frame when Nerlens Noel (1 of 2), Steven Adams (1 of 2), and Jerami Grant (0 of 2) shot a collective 2 of 6 from the stripe or 33.3 percent.

I mean, seriously, the OKC Thunder aren’t just missing free throws they are abysmal from the line. The league average is 76.6 percent. Six players on the Thunder shoot above this average with Paul George, Dennis Schroder, and Alex Abrines being the only ones of the six who get substantial playing time the other three are reserve players with limited minutes (Deonte Burton, Raymond Felton, Abdel Nader).

Fortunately for the Thunder, it was Donovan Mitchell who choked in clutch time missing a critical free throw negating the Jazz from tying up the match to send the game to overtime. Not to mention the block by Russell Westbrook which drew the foul was NOT a foul. I’m quibbling now, but that was an annoying call. You be the judge via the video above in Rob Perez tweet.

Today the OKC Thunder are right back at it as the complete their second game of the back to back series versus the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s the first time the two squads are facing each other this season. As noted in the preview the clubs are in very different situations than they were upon their initial matchup last season. Check out the full preview here.

As for the defeat of the Jazz victory, post game grades can be found here and the Topic: Thunder podcast crew details the night’s win.

Enjoy the game and join us back here after the game for post game grades the podcast and more exciting content. Let’s go Thunder – that top seed in the West awaits!