Three takeaways after OKC Thunder fall 142-126 to the lowly Atlanta Hawks

Flat to the boards

The biggest issue with OKC’s performance tonight was its overall defense. Not only did the Thunder allow Atlanta to score 142 points with two 45-point quarters, they allowed the Hawks to shoot a scorching 62.2 percent from the field and 48.6 percent from three. Atlanta exploited OKC’s blown coverages, poor pick and roll defense and switch-all defense with regularity leading to a number of wide open looks.

While these appeared to be the primary causes of the Thunder’s demise last night, the team spoke briefly after the game about “lack of energy”. Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Dennis Schroder share their thoughts on the game.

PG13’s elaborated further on the issue, citing fatigue as the main reason behind the team’s defensive effort.

Schroder was a little more optimistic about the situation, giving props to the team for overcoming an 11-point deficit in the third but then later admitted they ran out of gas.

The Thunder now moves to 1-4 in their last five games, conceding 122 points per game (28th) with a defensive rating of 119.7 (28th). Tonight wasn’t the teams best performance on the defensive side of the ball and needs to get back to playing Thunder basketball.