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The #1 Defense Is Breaking A Lot of Rules



The #1 Defense Is Breaking A Lot of Rules

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The OKC Thunder have the number one defense in large part to their willingness to challenge the status quo. We go over those traditional rules that they break and why it’s so effective.

Produced By Daniel Li

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41 Comments

  1. They play a 3 man zone (what I call "cover 3" using football jargon) when they put in their half court traps. Some of the traps are dummy defenses and "games" to just get the other team into their counters which they have prepared for.

  2. Teamwork, commitment, and speed make the thunder defense very fun to watch. Love a well coached team.

  3. The problem with this team on the defensive end is that they’re all light in the cakes. Yeah bruising post scoring bigs are not as common as they used to and they’re being actively weeded out, but a team like this can only dominate and be considered an all time defensive in the three point era, as I saw some people say online. Because this team only exists to stop threes and drives. They really have no choice but to double Embiid and Jokic every single time down the floor, who are the only star post scorers left, and honestly might be the last ones for a while.

  4. A possible solution to this defense is to pass the ball to the post. And let the bigman do the work.

    Ohhh there are no traditional bigs, all of them are camping in the 3pt line.

  5. It isn't really about breaking "traditional rule but rather playing defence as it is. OKC is making the best of the situation they are in. The way they are defending is what the Cougar is doing in college level but without long armed and mobile center.

  6. How does the OKC defense change with Isaiah coming back off injury? Would love to see an updated OKC video once their injured players return to play!!

  7. Just going to mention one other thing … conditioning. To play that style of defense, it takes lots of energy. One thing i noticed, is that much like in Football (US), a fast offense will wear down the defense over the course of a game. I believe that is true for basketball, just in the opposite direction – a fast and active defense, will wear down a team, especially one with limited bench strength over the course of a game. The Thunder have a lots of people to rotate in and out – with lots of matchups available to them. Their conditioning (an probably their youth) allow them to play fast on the defensive end for 4 full quarters – and that potentially have the ability to wear down their opponent as they head into the final quarter and minutes of every game.

  8. this only works because this ERA is trash…they are playing small and the other teams basically shoot 3s…

  9. Has this really worked?

    Because so far they have only beaten mediocre teams or good teams that don’t really have a good big.

    This lineup without Chet can only work so far.

  10. This is basically what the Raptors were already doing in 2019 until Nurse got fired lol. 2019-2020 especially. They just weren't good after that. This isn't new

  11. It’s always interesting how you can change a high percentage, low volume shooter into a low percentage shooter just by increasing their volume to something they’re not used to.

  12. Very curious how they will look with iHart now back. Only been two games but they look reaaaaaaaally good with him.

  13. Ajay Mitchell is a absolute dawg. The way he plays on the court is beautiful to watch. Gotta give credit to him aswell

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