Gameday Preview: OKC Thunder aim for sweep of the season against the John Wall-less Washington Wizards

End the bad shooting trend

Thunder superstar Russell Westbrook is currently caught up in a peculiar shooting pattern. Over the guards last eight games he has shot above 46.0 percent or below 30.0 percent in every match. Westbrook’s good game/bad game pattern has not severely hampered Oklahoma City, as the team has gone 5-3 in their last eight contests.

Westbrook’s shooting streaks, both good and bad have a common connection, three-point shooting. In his high percentage games, he has shot 11 threes, in low percentage games Russ has launched a whopping 25 threes. If Russ is going to break out of his poor shooting pattern he must resist launching from beyond the arc this evening.

Feed Adams in the Fourth

Steven Adams deserves more credit for his efficiency than he receives. The Thunder are finally beginning to reward his ability to score easily and effectively by granting him more field goal attempts in the fourth quarter. Last season through 38 games Adams attempted 37 shots in the fourth and connected on 62.2 percent of his attempts. The big Kiwi also dished three assists and committed seven turnovers.

Flash forward to the present day, Adams has attempted 58 field goals in the fourth, he is connecting on 65.5 percent of his shots, and he has added 11 assisted also. Despite shooting 21 more shots Adams has only committed two more turnovers to this point.

In order for Oklahoma City to reach their full potential, they must continue utilizing other players in the fourth. Such as Adams, rather than isolating into a two-man game with Russ and Paul George.

Matchup of the evening: PG and Russ vs. Bradley Beal

Historically, Beal has had great success against the Thunder. For his career, the guard has averaged 23.5 points per game, on 47.7 percent shooting from the floor and 51.2 percent from three when facing Oklahoma City.

In the Thunder and Wizards first meeting of the season, Beal did most of his damage against his primary defender PG. However, when Russ took on the task of trying to contain Beal he did not do any better. Below is a breakdown of how they both fared:

• PG on Beal: George guarded Beal on 34 possessions, allowing him to score 11 points on 4-6 (66.7 percent shooting). About the only thing George did correctly while guarding Beal was not commit any shooting fouls. On average Beal shoots 4.7 free throws per game, while drawing 4.0 fouls per contest.
• Russ on Beal: Russ was Beal’s primary defender for eight possessions. When Westbrook defended Beal, he was efficient scoring nine points on 3-4 75.0 percent shooting.

Limiting Beal will be especially vital tonight because since Wall was lost for the remainder of the season, Beal has averaged 22.8 points per game, leading his team to a 2-2 record.