OKC Thunder: Three Blazers X factors to be wary of
By Rylan Stiles
Seth Curry has a chance to be that annoying OKC Thunder killer.
Seth Curry averaged 3.4 made threes per game this season in Portland, a career high for the 28 year old guard.
He drilled triples at a 45 percent clip and saw the floor 18.9 minutes per game. Solid numbers, but nothing incredible for the brother of Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry.
The big number is 48 percent. That is the rate at which Curry hits corner threes. 82 percent of his threes are assisted, and 18 percent of his threes come from the corner.
That is big because that corner three has been a weakness in the OKC Thunder’s stellar defense, as the team rotates, often times it ends with an open three in the corner where Curry could be lurking.
In their season series, the OKC Thunder have held Curry in check for the most part. The final installment of the OKC vs Portland regular season series though saw Seth Curry play 14 minutes and go three of six from the floor featuring a trey ball to rack up eight points.
Down the stretch though, with Curry getting an increase in minutes due to C.J. McCollum’s injury, where he experienced the best stretch of his career.
In total, Curry has flashed his 3 point ability scoring 17 or more points ten times including a pair of 22 point efforts. Three times this year, Curry has made five triples, and five times this year he has made four shots beyond the arc. While it did not come against great defensive teams by any means, the ability is there, if the OKC Thunder are not careful.
This x-factor is based on feel, if you have followed OKC since the beginning, you know the OKC Thunder killers. We could be adding another to that list.