The OKC Thunder may have coasted right on through their round-one bout against the Phoenix Suns, but this by no means suggests their on-court play was flawless.
In fact, when looking at the numbers, there was one particular area where Oklahoma City struggled mightily, and to course-correct, they may need Isaiah Joe to help lead the charge.
Thanks to a combination of tremendous ball movement and the ridiculous gravity Shai Gilgeous-Alexander draws upon himself from an opposing defense, the Thunder found themselves coming across an overwhelming amount of open-to-wide-open shots in their quarterfinal matchup against Phoenix.
Unfortunately, their success rate on such attempts proved far from desirable, as they cashed in on a middling 36.5 percent of their shots from deep and 40.3 percent of their shots from the field as a whole when the closest defender was found anywhere between four feet and beyond.
Taking full advantage of any mistakes or opportunities created from an opponent's in-game blunders is a must for this Thunder team eying a repeat title run, and, no matter who they end up facing in the Western Conference Semifinals, coach Mark Daigneault must strongly consider utilizing I-Joe on a more consistent basis to up their productivity in uncovered scoring situations.
Isaiah Joe has proven himself as most lethal sniper on Thunder
Here in his fourth season with the Thunder and sixth in the league overall, Joe has put forth a career-best campaign.
In 71 games played, the wing wrapped up the 2025-26 regular season with impressive averages of 11.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists. He also handily established himself as the club's most lethal shooter by cashing home on a ridiculous 42.3 percent of his shots from deep, the fourth-best mark among players who attempted 300 three-pointers.
Unfortunately, this high-end production off the pine didn't seem to guarantee him consistent action in the first round against the Suns, as he saw his playing time get cut down by roughly seven minutes and even came across a DNP along the way.
Heading into the semifinals, coach Daigneault might want to strongly consider throwing Joe more minutes, especially with their shooting struggles off of open looks, as he cashed in on a ridiculous 43.3 percent of his open-to-wide-open shots and sported a team-best 70.5 percent effective field goal percentage on wide-open attempts throughout the year.
As things currently stand, their most likely round two opponent, the Lakers, are letting up the third-most wide-open shots from long range this postseason. Needless to say, this is something the Thunder should want to take advantage of in a seven-game series, and giving I-Joe more time on the hardwood should help them do exactly that.
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