OKC Thunder dispenses of the Utah Jazz in an easy victory offering up three key takeaways.
If the game yesterday felt a bit like the movie groundhog day there’s a logical explanation for that. The first game of the 2019-20 season for the OKC Thunder occurred in Utah.
Prior to Saturday, the last time these teams shared the hardwood it was March 11th. That night basketball came to a halt when Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 test postponed the match and later that night sparked the season suspension.
So it felt only appropriate the first ‘seeded game’ the OKC Thunder would play in the restart was the game that was put on hold almost five months ago.
The Jazz opened the restart with a victory over the New Orleans Pelicans and added a half-game padding to their lead over the Thunder. With the victory Saturday, the Thunder pulls back within a half-game of catching Utah to claim the fourth seed.
The Rockets also played defeating the Mavericks to at least temporarily swap positions with the Thunder on the playoff ladder. However, the victory by OKC again shuffled the team seedings. More importantly, the win gives the Thunder the tiebreak over Utah. They also own the tiebreak over the Rockets.
In the victory over the Jazz, there were three takeaways that stood out.
Three takeaways from OKC Thunder victory over Jazz
Scoring in the paint:
On the season the Utah Jazz is the ninth stingiest at allowing opponents to score in the paint. Per-game the average that Jazz opponents score in the paint is 46.4 points. And, the Jazz averages 47.8 points in the paint.
On this night, the Thunder scored 50 to the Jazz 46 in the paint. It also should be noted that figure for the Thunder could’ve been much higher had Billy Donovan not sat his core for the majority of the final frame.
Part of the reason behind the Jazz points in the paint defense is tied to Rudy Gobert but after watching how the Pelicans also scored easily in their match the question has to be raised whether Gobert has taken a slight step back or if the Jazz team defense isn’t what it used to be.
Steven Adams said in the post-game presser (per NBA.com) Utah was defending the paint differently than they typically do. Billy Donovan doubled down on this but also credited his guards for being patient in how they approached the offense.
Suffice to say the fear that Gobert once put into opponents isn’t there at least not through the first two games of the restart.
Perimeter stays hot:
In the three scrimmage games, the youngsters, in particular, were nailing their 3-point attempts and clearly worked on their shooting during the hiatus.
As we noted In our article 10 things we learned about the OKC Thunder in the scrimmages Luguentz Dort was one of the bright spots in this regard. While the Canadian wasn’t as successful Saturday the team as a whole remained hot shooting 38.5 percent on 10 of 26 attempts.
Thunder defense improving
Entering the Disney bubble the Thunder ranked ninth defensively. After just one game OKC has moved up to eighth. That’s an impressive leap given how long it typically takes to move up or down one sport in the overall rankings.
Based on what Thunder Nation has witnessed since the team arrived in Orlando this squad is progressively improving on the defensive end of the court. Punctuating how stellar their effort was Saturday the Thunder held Utah to 15 first-quarter points which were the least any OKC opponent scored this season.
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For those who caught the Lakers and Raptors match last night, it proved defense can keep teams in games until the offense clicks and be the difference in a club being considered a contender or an also-ran.
The Raptors are a title contender and while the Thunder are still missing a few things there are some palpable similarities between the Raptors and Thunder.
Kyle Lowry and Chris Paul are the captains of their teams with their squads taking on their competitive nature and identity.
Although Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is only a sophomore there is reason to believe he’ll take a similar path as Pascal Siakam given they’ve both tended to take quick leaps resulting in rapid improvement.
Like the Raptors the Thunder utilize a team offensive approach.
Sure, the Raptors are deeper and have much more experience but part of the reason why the Thunder fanbase should be excited about these playoffs is that ever-improving Thunder defense.
Much like the Raptors, the Thunder has been underestimated all season. Both squads say that doesn’t matter — but the fact the players know what is or isn’t being said tells us they are using the lack of attention as motivation (hey- it’s simply in CP3 and Lowry’s DNA).
I’m not getting ahead of myself saying the Thunder are title favorites, but emulating the reigning champions and displaying similar traits isn’t a bad spot for the Thunder to be in!
Game grades provide more insights into the win, click here to view them. The Thunder will be back in action tomorrow when they play the Denver Nuggets. Check back tomorrow morning for our game day preview.