OKC Thunder at the break: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Free Throw Shooting

The Thunder as a team is shooting 71.6 perfect from the line, the fourth worst in the league. At the same time, the Thunder shoot the fifth most free throws per game (25.6). That’s not a great ratio for a team that relies too much on attacking the rim.

Paul George is the only starter you feel comfortable about knocking down two at the end of a close game. The other five starters are all under 70 percent. Of course, the biggest culprit is Westbrook, who is shooting a career-low 65% from the line. A lot has been made of why Westbrook has been struggling so much. One theory is that the new rule change about going past the three-point line has mentally unraveled him.

No matter what the reason in, Westbrook needs to adapt and get back to when he was hitting at least 80 percent of his foul shots.

The Thunder already have enough liabilities at the line. Teams will not hesitate to intentionally foul Steven Adams if he stays around 55 percent. OKC knows all too well about how intentionally fouling can ruin a team’s season. You could say that’s been the one benefit of Roberson not playing this season.