OKC Thunder stave off elimination forcing Game 7- three takeaways

Elimination was avoided as the OKC Thunder push series to a decisive Game 7.  T.I. offers three takeaways from the thrilling Game 6 victory.

The OKC Thunder arrived at the AdventHealth Arena on Monday, 48 hours after producing the lowest scoring effort of any team in the bubble. Adding drama to the situation was the Thunder was in jeopardy of being eliminated from the postseason.

The thrashing the Thunder took on Saturday left many believing the series was wrapped.  After all, Russell Westbrook’s series debut showcased the rust of a player who’d missed so much time. And, in spite of that, the Thunder had still lost by 34 points.

Those in Thunder Nation, however, knew better than to raise the white flag. It’s not that Game 5 was an offensive outlier for OKC, yet it also wasn’t common either.

Although the clutch time king owns the lion’s share of the praise here’s three factors that led to the victory.

Three keys to OKC Thunder Game 6 win:

Leaving Murphy’s Law in the past:

As our postgame analysis noted Game 5 was truly a Murphy’s Law oddity. For example, Danilo Gallinari scored a single point and attempted only five shots in the loss. In Game 6, it took all of 17 seconds for the talented forward to take his first of 17 field goal attempts.

Gallo started off cold, shooting 1 for 5, but once the first shot fell the lid came off the basket with the Italian sniper scoring on eight of his next 12 attempts.

As for shot attempts, Luguentz Dort who took 12 shots just in the first half of Game 5 including eight 3-pointers shot a far more typical tally of nine for the entire game. Dort was also efficient going 5 of 9 from the field. More importantly, the defensive standout didn’t allow the comments ‘offensive liability’ to affect his confidence or make him shy away from shooting.

With the Rockets holding a six-point edge, the Canadian delivered eight consecutive points including back to back 3-pointers pushing the Thunder ahead of the Rockets to finish the third.

Fixing the first and third quarter starts:

Certainly, Billy Donovan would cite spacing, pace, and ball movement, but there was one simple key that can be pointed to as arguably the most important key to the win. That was avoiding their worst habit by starting both the first and third quarters without focus or energy.

OKC  trailed by a single point after the first and was a plus-five in the third. T.I. was confident the threat of elimination would solve that strange habit and the results speak to that fact.

These are all important bounce back results and keys to the win. Clearly, the game management of Chris Paul and his clutch time prowess had the greatest impact. But, that’s why the first and third quarter efforts are so important.

This iteration of the OKC Thunder knows if they get to clutch time they’re more likely to win than lose – they’ve proven that all season. But, how those quarters are played is critical to set up clutch time.

Should Gilgeous-Alexander struggles concern us?

As an aside, I’m starting to wonder if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is hurt or this is simply a bad matchup for him.  SGA had strong efforts in games 2, 3, and 4, but has scored a cumulative 14 points on 6 of 19 in those matches and was held scoreless in the second half of Game 6.

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• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

Although Robert Covington has spent time on the Thunder cornerstone talent he’s defended more frequently by Eric Gordon and James Harden. In both those situation, Shai’s length and change of pace should be an advantage. That’s why I’m leaning more to him nursing some sort of nagging injury.

If not, wouldn’t it be a compelling storyline if the future of the franchise saved his best game for the match that could send home the former star of the team!

Those interested in postgame player grades can find them via this link.

Closing Thought:

It’s obvious both teams are invested in winning — however, the pressure on the Thunder is significantly less. They’ve already won by pushing this series to Game 7 and will be commended if they can’t pull out the series.

Conversely, a loss by the Rockets will cause no end of turmoil in Houston. More on this later.

For now, get some rest and clear your schedule because on Wednesday evening at 8:00 pm CT- the OKC Thunder has their best shot at winning a playoff series since 2016!