The OKC Thunder officially punched their ticket to the Western Conference Semifinals this past weekend, besting the Memphis Grizzlies 117-115 in a series-clinching Game 4 win.
With this, not only are they heading to the second round of the postseason for the second consecutive year, but they simultaneously further strengthened their status as 2025 title favorites.
Of course, even with the excitement and positive momentum generated from their commanding 4-0 sweep, throughout the series, there still proved to be a few prevalent weaknesses and concerning trends on this Thunder squad that, ahead of the official tip-off to the second round, must be addressed and, ultimately, fixed.
Long-range shooting
Over the last several seasons, the Thunder have established themselves as one of the top three-point shooting squads in the entire league, as they wrapped up 2024-25 as the sixth-most efficient offensive team from beyond the arc.
Through four games played in the NBA Playoffs, however, it seems as if their elite long-distance reliability has ceased to exist.
Despite hoisting up the second-most attempts from three-point range, Oklahoma City is cashing in at a mere 31.3 percent clip, the third-worst mark in the association.
Though, ultimately, this inefficiency may not have been all that detrimental to their overall play, its by no means something that will make winning their upcoming semifinal matchup any easier, especially if they wind up playing the third-best long-range shooting team in this year's postseason, the LA Clippers.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's offensive efficiency
The Thunder may have played at a historic rate throughout their first-round series against Memphis, but, oddly enough, they did so in spite of superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's highly inefficient play.
Compared to his regular season production, the 26-year-old has found himself in quite the rut thus far into the playoffs, particularly on the offensive end, where, though he's dropping 27.8 points per game, he's shooting at a mere 40.2 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from deep.
These numbers are significantly worse than his season averages of 32.7 points on 51.9 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from distance.
Now, though, on the one hand, it's been encouraging and incredibly exciting to see OKC win games with the likes of Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren serving as their most prominent weapons, on the other, everyone understands that the Thunder are viewed as legitimate championship contenders because of Gilgeous-Alexander and his elite, MVP-deserving play.
For them to have their best chance at taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy in 2025, SGA needs to step up his game.
Game 4 was a great place for him to start his redemption tour. Hopefully the momentum continues.
Thunder offense with Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein on the floor
The twin-tower lineup of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein sharing the frontcourt is a specific on-court configuration that has been utilized quite often throughout this year's playoff run -- roughly 28 percent of the time, to be exact.
While said unit may be exciting for Thunder fans to see, it has yet to reach the heights that many hoped it would get to earlier in the year.
Now, to the surprise of very few, the tandem's defensive efforts have been rather impressive to this point, as they are allowing just 100.0 points per 100 possessions to opposing teams and holding them to an effective field goal percentage of 47.1.
However, their offensive production could still stand to see some improvements, as this specific lineup orientation is seeing just 110.2 points per 100 possessions and boasts an effective field goal percentage of 47.7 percent, a significant drop-off from the club's elite 120.8 points per 100 possessions and 53.5 effective field goal percentage as a whole.
Perhaps the most shocking part about these uninspiring numbers is the fact that both players are remarkable offensive weapons in their own right, as Holmgren is a three-level scorer while Hartenstein is one of the best passing bigs in the game today.
Unfortunately, due to their individual injury woes throughout the season, the pair has gotten very limited practice to develop the proper chemistry needed on this side of the ball and experiment with how to make their very complementary skills mesh. Under the bright lights of the postseason, this has been painfully apparent, both from the eye test and the advanced metrics.
Hopefully, they will take this gap in between rounds to continue ironing out the wrinkles on the offensive end, for having those two clicking on both ends of the floor moving forward would be an absolute luxury.