OKC Thunder: 3 takeaways from the win against the Phoenix Suns

OKC Thunder takeaway No. 1) When the 3-ball is not dropping what is plan B?

The OKC Thunder have gone to a pace and space gameplan and, in the first quarter, the space was simply not there — well, the shooting anyway. The Thunder went 4-of-14 from deep and fell behind by as many as 17 points in the quarter.

However, what this highlights is that the Thunder doesn’t really go to a plan B. When the outside shots are not dropping, they need to have another alternative to bombing away. That was where Danilo Gallinari and Paul were brilliant for the franchise last season.

They had the ability to put the ball on the floor or draw a foul to avoid letting the deceit become too great. At the moment the Thunder keeps hoisting 3-point shots, hoping that they will go in.

Only Horford or SGA seem to try different things on a regular basis.

A key growth area for this time is to move away from looking for the 3-ball over and over again and go inside. Aleksej Pokusevski has been struggling from deep all season and has started to get some confidence by driving to the hoop more.

Darius Bazley is one of the most athletic forwards in the game with tremendous handles.

He took eight attempts from deep, making only one of them. Conversely, he took five shots from inside the arc and made three of them.

If the long ball is not dropping, drive the ball, you make things happen then.