OKC Thunder: 3 lessons learned from Dec. 16 comeback vs. Bulls

Three lessons the OKC Thunder can utilize in Orlando from their December 16th comeback vs. Bulls.

Fox Sports Oklahoma is airing replays of the best OKC Thunder games from the season. Thunderous Intentions is following up with three lessons the team can apply in the Disney bubble from these victories.

I’m a little behind on the last replay game (apologies) which featured a double-digit come from behind victory over the Chicago Bulls. The game was originally played on December 6th and Fox replayed it a few days ago.

This match was the first time the Thunder played at home in five outings and their road-weary legs were evident early. With the benefit of hindsight, we know the Thunder battled back from what became a 26 point deficit. At the time it was the largest comeback in the NBA this season and it tied the largest comeback in OKC Thunder history.

Unfortunately, the following week the Raptors erased a 30 point deficit against the Mavericks to knock the Thunder off the top spot on the comeback ladder. Nonetheless, it was an impressive win that was punctuated by thrilling individual performances.

Three lessons OKC Thunder learned from comeback versus Bulls

No lead is insurmountable:

While it’s not ideal to get behind by double digits this scrappy OKC Thunder team fights to the final buzzer. Although we can drone on about the poor first quarters the team has a penchant for delivering it’s also important to note OKC got caught by a typical trap.

Every season there are a handful of certain games that will pose the greatest difficulty. Those matches include games played just prior and after Christmas Day and the All-Star Break as well as the first game back home after a long or arduous road trip.  Clearly, this was the last scenario as OKC allowed 37 opening frame points while scoring a mere 16.

Fortunately, the Thunder dug in and mounted the second-half comeback effort to collect the ‘W’.

Comeback Kings:

An interesting side note regarding the team’s ability to erase large deficits is two of the newest members of the team seemingly have a propensity to excel in these situations. Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were part of two major Clippers comeback efforts last season.

Even more unusual was both games were played on the road. In Boston, they trailed the Celtics by 28 points late in the second quarter and won the game 123-112. At Golden State in the playoffs, they were trailing by 31 points at the 7:30 marker of the third quarter and went on to capture the 135-131 upset.

This season the Thunder has mounted multiple come from behind victories and came close in others with their clutch time prowess seldom failing. The moral of the story is this team has several players who are unshakeable regardless of the score and possess the calm and mindset to deal with games of this nature.

That said, SGA wasn’t particularly strong offensively on this night but his defense was on point (especially in the second half). Rather, Chris Paul who is never shy or any challenge was a beast scoring 19 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. The 3-point shot was also blistering as he drilled six triples.

In the seeding games and the playoffs, while it’s never ideal to fall that far behind an opponent, the Thunder has the confidence to believe they can prevail.

Turnovers and rebounding dictate momentum:

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This was an odd game in terms of the shifts that were directly related to the turnovers. Early in the match, the Bulls forced the Thunder to cough up the ball repeatedly. By the game end, the Thunder had turned the ball over 26 times leading to 39 Chicago points off those turnovers although the majority (26) were scored in the first half.

It’s unusual for a team to commit that many turnovers and still find a path to victory but the boards played a big factor.

Despite the Bulls’ size, the Thunder outrebounded them by 11. Adams collected six offensive boards and the entire team crashed the glass.

In Orlando, the key will be to take these examples to ensure they are forcing turnovers not committing them.

For those interested in further insight on the victory check out our post-game grades and statheads can view the box score at this link courtesy of ESPN.