OKC Thunder: 3 takeaways in fourth-quarter collapse to Grizzlies
By Ryan Lewis
OKC Thunder takeaway No. 2) Thunder defense steps up against Morant
Ja Morant is quickly rising through the ranks of elite basketball players, and for the most part, most teams offer little in the way of resistance against him. But the OKC Thunder knew to slow down the Grizzlies, they needed to slow down Morant and force the shot elsewhere.
As far as slowing down Morant, that was a task the Thunder handled with relative ease.
The Thunder held Morant to 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting through the first three-quarters of the game. Morant finished the night with 15, with his last five points coming by way of the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.
Morant’s impact was felt in other phases of the game. Morant was forced to pass out on multiple occasions with no real ability to create his own shots, setting himself up for a triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists.
The Thunder own a defensive rating of 111, which ranks them right around the middle of the pack in the NBA this season. Considering who the OKC Thunder have played over the course of the last two months, they’re doing pretty well.
The Thunder roster has plenty of players willing to get scrappy to keep a team off the board. Dort currently ranks as one of the NBA’s top 3-point defenders and is often tasked with shutting down a team’s best player.
The defense is what has kept the Thunder in games this season. It’s also one of the major reasons they’ve been able to come back from seemingly insurmountable deficits in multiple games. This team is primed to be talented in every facet of the game in just a few years.