OKC Thunder still in search of their first win of 2022: Nets Preview
Tonight’s match will mark the halfway point of the 2021-22 season for the OKC Thunder who are in Brooklyn to play the Nets.
OKC has a 13-27 record and is seeded 14th in the West, three games out of the play-in tournament or if you rather – – 1.5 games away from the coveted bottom three seed the Rockets hold.
Brooklyn holds a 26-14 record and possesses the second seed in the Eastern Conference.
OKC Thunder still in search of their first win of 2022: Nets Preview
The Nets always offer extra incentive given the presence of former OKC Thunder players Kevin Durant and James Harden. Yet pushing that dynamic to the side, the Thunder are simply trying to register their first win of the New Year.
OKC enters following a tough loss to the Wizards in which the Thunder led by eight points at one juncture and lost by a mere four points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did his best to propel his club to victory with 32 points, three rebounds, eight assists, and a steal but it wasn’t enough.
The Nets arrive on the heels of their first victory versus a top-four seed from either conference having routed the Bulls 138-112. However, they’ll be missing a vital component of that winning effort since they are back in the warm confines of the Barclays Center where Kyrie Irving cannot participate given he hasn’t been vaccinated.
With the Big 3 playing in Chicago they demonstrated why most pundits picked them as title favorites preseason combining for 61 points, 28 assists, 13 rebounds, and three steals. The trio attempted 33 shots connecting on 17 of them and made nine of their 15 combined 3-point shots.
Again, Irving won’t be in the lineup tonight which lends itself to the Thunder having a better shot at stealing a game, particularly because the Nets have lost five of their last eight matches and four of those were at home without Irving.
With only Durant and Harden playing the Nets are a substantially less effective offensive team. Last season when they had the trio engaged they were an offensive juggernaut registering 128.4 points per 100 possessions, had the best shooting, and owned the second-best 3-point efficiency.
Since December they rank 29th in 3-point efficiency and 30th in 3-pointers made per contest. Notably, those stats don’t include the win in Chicago but one game doesn’t change the cumulative problems of 39 prior.
Defense is the other major issue and while Brooklyn held a top 10 ranking for the majority of the season as their schedule got more difficult the reality of where they really rank has entered the equation. They’ve dropped to 11th overall on defense but through the last 10 games rank 25th.