The OKC Thunder come into tonight’s game fresh off a win against the Charlotte Hornets. To keep the ball rolling, they’ll want to hone in on 3 specific keys.
Though fans may have been upset over the fact that the start of the 2020-21 season for the OKC Thunder was prolonged due to COVID-19 complications, in the end, it was well worth the wait.
In a boxing day matchup against the Charlotte Hornets, Oklahoma City prevailed in exhilarating fashion to the tune of 109-107, thanks to a buzzer-beating long-range two by franchise centerpiece Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
While many anticipate this season will be a full-out rebuild, there are some who believe their roster may be too good to outright tank a la Philadelphia back in the mid-2010s.
Whatever they opt to do, as things currently stand they have a winning record at 1-0 heading into tonight’s matchup against the Utah Jazz.
If Mark Daigneault wishes to keep his team undefeated, he’ll likely want OKC to hone in on these 3 specific keys to victory:
OKC Thunder key No. 1) Find more consistency from behind the arc
While fans were enthralled by the team’s entertaining victory Saturday night, the outing was not all sunshine and rainbows for the OKC Thunder. Sure, there were many fantastic takeaways from the game, but there was one major weakness in their execution and that was their long-range shooting.
Despite their excellent 3-point conversion rate during the preseason (made 42 percent of their attempts), during their season opener, the Thunder only managed to shoot at a 28 percent clip.
In the modern NBA, the long-ball plays a huge factor in deciding who wins or loses.
Should they wish to extend their win-streak to two games, they’ll want to find a way to be more consistent from beyond the arc.