The cardiac kids give it their best shot as the OKC Thunder come up short in clutch time losing to the Lakers. Three takeaways tell the tale of the night.
The OKC Thunder battled to the very end as has become their custom and unfortunately came up a tad short of pulling off the upset win.
It wasn’t a game most thought the Thunder stood a chance of winning. Especially not when they left their blood sweat and guts on the same floor the night prior. And yet, there they were again in another match being decided in the closing minutes of the game.
What was clear is the Lakers were the more rested team and while their length served up issues at times it was more about the fatigue level which was repeatedly highlighted.
For example, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a lengthy player who often uses those limbs to his advantage but on a back to back, he didn’t have the energy to muscle through a player of similar height and length. Uncharacteristically, he missed multiple scoop shots at the basket where he glides in using either hand to drop the ball in the net. Those are things that don’t happen if he’s not fatigued.
Several others showed their fatigue level on the defensive end like Terrance Ferguson. Although, in fairness to TFerg he gave up a good 60 lbs to LeBron James sort of making it a David vs. Goliath battle.
Anthony Davis could arguably be the best player in the league and his prowess on both sides of the hardwood made Steven Adams look mortal. It still feels like Adams isn’t quite right – something seems off about his movement which could be tied to the knee which kept him out of two games already and made him appear like a planted obstacle Davis needed only to step around.
While there was much to unpack from this loss (including the fact Marc Davis should not be allowed to ref in this league) let’s look at a few key takeaways.
Turnovers:
Entering the half the OKC Thunder had already coughed up the ball 11 times and the Lakers promptly scored 20 points off those turnovers. It must have been a talking point at the half as the Thunder managed to limit their second-half turnovers to five and the accompanying seven points gained from those. Against a team like the Lakers, it’s virtually impossible to win when you hand them 27 points off turnovers.
Triples:
The Thunder boast the second-best perimeter defense in the Association but weren’t displaying that talent versus the Lakers. LA drilled 14 perimeter shots from their 31 attempts which were five more triples than the Thunder achieved. On the season the Thunder hold teams to 30.9 percent from the perimeter which again likely speaks to their level of tiredness since LA shot with a 45.2 percent efficiency.
In contrast, without the lift in their legs, the Thunder managed only nine triples and shot well below (32.1 percent) their season average of 35.8 percent.
Fastbreak Scoring:
Yet, the advantage the Lakers really punished the Thunder with was fastbreak scoring where they dominated scoring 30 points to the Thunder 16.
In an oddity, the Lakers aren’t necessarily a team you would expect to be pushing the pace or getting out on the break whereas the OKC Thunder who are the much younger team should be.
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Yet, with the exit of Russell Westbrook and Paul George, the Thunder haven’t pushed the pace as much although they still try to utilize their defense to create fast break opportunities. Notably, this was where most of the break scoring occurred last season.
On the season the Lakers rank 23rd in pace whereas the OKC Thunder ranks 20th. Last season the Thunder ranked sixth in pace. Interestingly, the Rockets (with Westbrook) rank 3rd — a massive leap from their 27th rank of last season.
In fact, the biggest difference to this season’s squad without Westbrook is in fastbreak scoring. Last year the Thunder sat among the leaders in this category scoring 18.2 points off the break for fifth place on the board. This season they rank dead last in 30th with 9.6 points scored. Conversely, the Rockets rank 9th scoring 14.9 points up from last seasons 19th rank and 12.0 points.
It is a bit confusing why the Thunder rank so low given the club still is among the best at creating turnovers and deflections and remains one of the best defensive clubs. We’ll need to keep an eye on this moving forward to see if anything changes over the course of the season.