A night filled with historic overtones, a veteran displaying why he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer and the OKC Thunder completing the comeback all resonates in three takeaways.
In case you ever wondered how OKC Thunder point guard Chris Paul got his nickname “Point God” you need to look no further than this game as evidence.
The OKC Thunder came out cold as ice looking like they had just returned from a season-long road trip — oh wait — they did.
This game is one that belongs in the vault to pull out on a rainy day when a lift is needed. For now, let’s glance back at a few of the key takeaways from the victory that still has fans buzzing.
The Teams play to their identity:
The Bulls came out fired up and full of confidence from their win over the Clippers and recent stronger play. Although Chicago hasn’t broken through yet the foundation is there and this narrator for one still isn’t convinced they won’t string together a win streak and find themselves in the playoff mix.
While the Bulls have underperformed on the season, recently their effort was paying dividends. Entering Monday they were 4-4 in the last eight contests and aside from a blowout loss to the Hornets had lost the other three games by a cumulative eight points including a five-point overtime loss.
In terms of strengths and weaknesses this Bulls team has length, athleticism and when they are focused are a very difficult squad to beat. They lead the NBA in steals (10.0) which they collected before the first half was complete. By game end, Chicago had accumulated 17 steals.
This, of course, led to easy scoring opportunities for Chicago and meant the Thunder were turning over the ball. (more on that later).
The other common denominator of this Chicago squad is their inability to hold onto leads. On six previous occasions, they’ve held double-digit leads this season and failed to capture the victory. That said this was the largest margin (26 points) of the now seven games the Bulls have lost in this situation and also the largest comeback by any team this season.
As for the Thunder, it’s not the first time they’ve allowed an opponent to win the first quarter and been put in a situation where they’ve had to claw back the entirety of the match.
Both of these things are commonalities for OKC. Clearly 26 points was pushing the outside of the envelope. But true to form they fought back to get into a clutch situation. Despite being down 37-16 after the first quarter the Thunder won every other quarter.
In fact, yet another habit of the Thunder is once they are down they refuse to rollover which is best highlighted by their defensive effort and the upped aggression once they fall behind. Consider that after the Bulls scored 37 points in the first quarter Chicago’s cumulative second half point total was one point more – 38!
Ironically, the difference between the teams is the Bulls have demonstrated consistent inconsistency while the Thunder are consistently competitive.
If there is one thing the Bulls are lacking it’s that veteran voice or leader who can calm the storm, be a voice of reason or take over when necessary. Not having Otto Porter Jr. is a big loss for the Bulls as his leadership specifically on defense is likely the difference in the team losing a few of those close matches. OPJ has been out for 20 consecutive games and will miss another few weeks recuperating from a foot fracture.
A common response might be one player can’t make THAT much of a difference which leads to the next (and without debate the most important takeaway from the game.