OKC Thunder: 3 keys to sweep series versus Bulls

OKC Thunder key No. 3:  Which advantage will rule?

While the Bulls are showing signs of growth and the potential to rise, it might be a bit of fool’s gold. Chicago tends to beat the teams they should, owning a 12-6 record versus teams possessing sub .500 records. Notably, the Thunder are one of those six losses.

Conversely, the Bulls have struggled against teams possessing records over .500 with a 5-14 record against those squads.

One of the more interesting stats this season is road performance. Three teams are above .500 and two are even in the Eastern Conference. But, in the Western Conference, the top eight seeds all possess winning records with the OKC Thunder one win shy of being even.

Another key area of focus for the Thunder should be to play aggressively in the passing lanes and via on-ball defense, as the Bulls rank 30th in turnovers and 29th in turnover volume percentage.

For the Thunder, the area the Bulls will look to exploit is scoring in the paint. OKC ranks 22nd for opponent points allowed in the paint (48.8) while the Bulls rank sixth for PIP scoring (49.6).

That becomes a point of emphasis as the Thunder are electing to rest Al Horford for the first time this season in a non back-to-back related game.