The Oklahoma City Thunder will begin their postseason title defense tour against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
OKC won three of the five matchups, but a loss in early January showed that Phoenix could be a tougher first-round matchup than Memphis was a season ago. Here is how touch passes, stampede catches, and off-ball movement could be a recipe for a long and agonizing seven-game series.
Xs and Os from Game 36 between Suns, Thunder
Oklahoma City’s rise to all-time great levels begins with its historic defense. A group of all-defensive hounds is supported on the back line by some of the game’s best rim protectors. Elite one-on-one scorers are thrown into the “Dorture Chamber”, where two to three bodies will be loaded up in their driving lanes, forcing them into nightmarish decision-making situations.
Stagnant offenses reliant on their superstars' gravity to open up stand-still shooters are what OKC's defense is built to stop. In the Suns' only win against a mostly healthy Thunder squad this season, however, they showed how to properly puncture this overly aggressive style of defense with quick decision-making and off-ball movement.
Take this play for example: When Booker sets a screen for Mark Williams at the top of the key, which is already a different type of action than the Thunder are used to guarding, the All-Star pops out to the top of the key, understanding OKC has a propensity for switching.
Rather than Williams passing back to Booker, he first hits Royce O’Neale at the right wing. O’Neale then quickly reverses it back to Booker, who stampedes (catching on the move) past Chet Holmgren, who switched the initial screen, to get to the paint and draw a foul.
That play alone featured two of the key ways a team like Phoenix exploits overloading defenses, with touch passing and stampeding. Arguably, the most important plan of attack for the Thunder’s gap-heavy protection scheme, though, is to have off-ball movement.
Upon first impression, this may seem simple, but we're not talking about simple cuts here.
Cleveland was one of the first teams that came to mind when discussing cutting into the lane on ball screens, especially out of the corner, last season. It’s no surprise, then, that first-year head coach Jordan Ott has brought those same principles to the Valley from Cleveland.
On this particular play, Dillon Brooks comes off left to right from a Williams screen to the middle of the floor. As he comes off, Isaiah Joe stunts at him, with the hope of either a mishandle or a chance to intercept the pass. Neither of those things happens because away from the ball, three different Suns players relocate to open up a Ryan Dunn triple.
As odd as it may seem, Jamaree Bouyea vacates the weakside dunker, practically in the path of Williams’ roll. Collin Gillespie then exits out of the left corner behind him, and then Dunn drifts down to the empty spot.
The result is an open look from deep off a Brooks drive, who isn’t 2019 James Harden.
What could this ultimately mean for Phoenix’s chances in the first round
Those two plays above were two of seven that tracked during that midseason matchup between the Thunder and the Suns.
Plays such as this, or this, or this all demonstrate how the eighth-seeded Suns, much like the Indiana Pacers in last year’s NBA Finals, could challenge the best defense in the play-by-play era -- quick-hitting actions and decisions to punish Oklahoma City's hyper-aggressive defense.
Phoenix was a middling offense all year, but it was without its hopeful second creator, Jalen Green, for roughly 60.0 percent of the time. And if Green continues to play as he did in the Play-In Tournament, Phoenix will have two legit shot-makers and an offensive strategy that could push OKC to the brink.
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