The OKC Thunder Defense Is Just Too Good…

The OKC Thunder Defense Is Just Too Good…

Let’s talk about Western Conference Finals game one. 11488 is the final score. OKC in the second half. Absolute masterclass. Just just on both sides of the ball. Mostly defensively, but you know that defense is really like that. But mostly defensively, we got a lot to get to today. But before I do that, I basketball because in the first half, Julius Randle was playing with so much grit and so much joy. He was one of my biggest X-factors going into the series because that level of physicality that he can bring on a night-to-ight basis could be pretty detrimental to the OKC Thunder in my personal opinion. And in this first half, it wasn’t really about his own physicality. I felt like for every bad play he had when it ended up being a few because you know he always leave his feet to throw a pass. He he backed it up with the very next possession or two possessions in a row doing something amazing. He hit the one like 29 30 foot three-pointer and they show him and he’s just grinning ear to ear and I’m thinking to myself, man, this is insane version of Julius Randall cuz just a year ago, two years ago, he hit a shot in his home arena and the fans are going crazy. He said he wasn’t rocking with the fans. He wasn’t playing with that joy. Um eventually they shut the faucet off though in the second half. He wasn’t very effective, but in that first half, he’s been able to do this the entire postseason run so far. Just keep the team afloat. Anthony hasn’t had a great first half so far, but I remember in that game they closed out versus the Warriors. Julius Randle had like 19 points in the first half and then Anthony Edwards turned up in the third and then the series was over. So, he’s been a good done a good job of just laying the foundation. Hey, we’re okay. Everything is cool. We going to let Antman take over in that second half. Unfortunately for him and unfortunately for the Wolves, that takeover never came for Anthony Edwards. They really made him think today, which I thought was the biggest thing OKC can do. And I I don’t think he did a bad job, don’t get me wrong. I thought Anthony Edwards when they did run him in pick a role, he generated open looks. I thought he generated a decent amount of open looks. The unfortunate part is some of those open looks are the exact ones OKC wants to give up. And some of those open looks ended up ending in nothing. One of the most interesting things about this is, you know, I was really hellbent thinking about the size of the Minnesota Timberwolves. thought about when they played against the Lakers and one of the biggest advantages they had in that Lakers series was how big they were and how much they killed the offensive glass and can they do that against OKC who tends to either run one singular big or and occasionally just run no bigs at all which they did a lot today and that size was not felt at all today. Uh Rudy Goar is basically unplayable, right? Bad hands, stone hands and they they disrespected that man so much that they said, “Hey, you know, we don’t even want to go to our third big. We don’t want to bring in Jay Wheel, who did a pretty damn good job guarding uh Nicole Joic in his spot minutes last series. We’re going to bring in Cameron Williams. Do something, Rudy. Make us make us regret going small against you. And they weren’t able to do that whatsoever. They played I think they played right into the Thunder’s hands in this game. And Minnesota lost game number one last series, so this series is far from over. And they’re gonna have to go to the drawing board and try to figure out exactly what the hell they want to do next. But the OKC Thunder had this one lineup that I’m like, “Oh no, they really just playing in y’all face.” It was Caruso, Kasein, Sheay, Dub, and Dort. We gonna run four guards and one fourman. I mean, one one three man really in JDub because JDub is like 6’5 if we’re being honest. They ran that small ass lineup and they ended up they outscored the opposite in his three-minute stretch by like five points. It wasn’t that crazy, but it was crazy at the same time. They didn’t respect the other team’s size because Minnesota didn’t give it an opportunity to benefit off that because we know Rudy Goar is not going to do that. I mean, his 2020 game against the Lakers is absolutely nuts. He probably not doing that again. Maybe he does. But the one place he could become effective there or Julius Randle or Nas Reed is the offensive glass. And they didn’t get to that glass at all. They ended up with 12 offensive boards, but I promise you it didn’t feel like that at all. And you think about how small the OKC Thunder went in a lot of this game. That 12 could have been TW 20, right? A lot a lot of that was just playing. It felt like they were playing mental games night and night out. I thought that they settled a lot in this game. And it’s it’s easy for me to say that today because well, the OKC Thunder, that’s what their defense does. When we talk about them being a legendary defense, people are just pulling numbers out their ass. This is what this team does. And we talk about in game number seven versus um the Denver Nuggets how ridiculous it was. And I I mentioned how that could have been a turning point for them to be able to just go on a run and we’re talking about game one of a West Conference final. Anything can happen. That’s kind of how I feel. They shot 50 threes before the starters got pulled. And I’m speculating right here. When Anthony was walking off the court for the final time, he looked up at the jumbo. He said, “Damn.” And I wonder if that damn was to the fact that this team shot 50 threes today and and only hit 15 of them. It’s nuts. And I think, you know, if you look at last series and we talk about beating OKC because that’s what you have to do. You have to you have to beat OKC. It is rare that they’re going to beat themselves. I got a few of these in today’s video. The only times I gain number one, right? Gain number one with Chad misses the free throws, the bad timeout, the bad foul up, foul up three, whatever, whatever. But for the most part, in order to beat the Thunder, you have to you have to take advantage of certain things. And I thought that early in this game they came mentally, again I’m just I’m speculating right here, mentally they were prepared to not get a adequate whistle. So because of that they settled a ton and we stopped seeing Julius Randle get post touches. We stopped seeing Anthony Edwards try to get downhill and they settled. The OKC Thunder are going to be aggressive. You need to make the OKC Thunder foul the hell out of you. Think about the games that Denver won last series. Those were the games where they got to the line 30 something times. because they weren’t able they weren’t ready to just settle just because they didn’t get a good whistle to start the first six minutes of the game. Yeah, we’re bigger. We’re stronger. We want to get downhill and force you to foul us. Guess what? Caruso is going to foul. He gonna foul a 100 times. He might get called for five of them, but you have to put him in position to foul 100 times so he can get that five. And I thought that the Minnesota Timberwolves to do that. And that was one of the things that um that coach Fence when they miked them up was talking about. We have to continue we have to continue to be aggressive. It’s so easier said than done, but that’s that’s one place where they can really hang their hat. We saw Anthony Davies be able to flip that switch in that Lakers series where he had the game and he shot like was it 21 free throws. We saw him get to the basket and and I mean it’s it’s going to be tough on your body for sure. You saw that with Donovan Mitchell in the postseason. But at the end of the day, you getting Dub in foul trouble, you getting Caruso in foul trouble, you getting Hart or Chat or what somebody in foul trouble is ultimately just going to be beneficial to you. And I felt like they didn’t do that at all today. And I’m sure that’s going to be close and high on their priority list. Guess what Chris Finch also said? This is a team that’s going to struggle in the half court. Today wasn’t necessarily the the day for that. But you can’t turn the ball over. You can’t. They had 17 of them today. This team wants you to turn the ball over so they can turn it into easy points. Now, after their 17 turnovers, it only turned to 12 fast break points, but I guess that’s couldn’t be it could be worse with 17 turnovers. But on the flip side of that, y’all didn’t generate a single fast break point, not one. See, people want to point to some exterior factors with some of these games, but sometimes it really is in the numbers. Sometimes it really is in the game. There’s no reason in my mind a team should ever end a game with zero fast break points. Happened today. They had 20 points in the paint. Unacceptable. See, these are the things that if you look at game number one, you’re like, “Okay, it’s just game number one. We can fit we can easily fix that because we’ve been able to do it the last two series.” OKC’s defense was ridiculous in the four fourth quarter. Chad Homer, the first six minute stretch of Chad Homer, maybe the the best stretch Cad Homer has had in this postseason so far. blocks and blocks, dunks and lobs. He was he was absolutely everywhere. And I think that game one is always trying to figure out who can play and who can’t. In the last series, Isaiah Joe could not play. They put him on the court for shooting. He shot 0 for four. He shot a shot so damn bad that I I subbed him out. I ain’t got no no no no no responsibility to be able to do that today. Hit some shots, play some good defense. Guess what? I bet we’ll see some more Isaiah Joe throughout this series, right? And that’s kind of what this is. Kenidge Williams was great. Kenny Hustle hit some two big threes. I bet we’ll see more of him this series, right? And on the flip side of things, you think about Minnesota. My guy, my guy, my guy. Rudy Gobear is awful. The only thing that we saw him be able to do is to deter Shay maybe once, maybe twice in that first half from the rim. It’s kind of it. And I keep looking back and be like, Dante Denzo shooting like 28 to 30% from three in his postseason run. That’s gonna have to flip, right? He’s too good of a shooter for him to go this entire run only shooting 30%. It ain’t for the lack of trying. Damn it. He took 12 threes today. He took 12 of them things. He was letting him fly. Could hit him. Nas Reed scor his first point to the fourth quarter. So there are like some silver lining things if you are the Minnesota Timberwolves, but you don’t really have a ton of time with this Thunder team. In my opinion, I don’t think you do. Um, I I kind of got away from X because everybody’s having the same conversation. It’s not necessarily about the the basketball. Um, it’s about the whistles and all. And here here’s my personal take on it. And this will maybe be the last time I talk about this. Um, somebody said to me on Twitter, “This isn’t basketball.” Shout out to Dwayne. I’ll give you a shout out, Dwayne. This isn’t basketball. 14 free throws from Shay is insane. I respond to that and say I wholeheartedly disagree. And this is where my head is at. This is where my head is at. Shay by all the statistics and the eye tests is the number one driver in the NBA. This is look at the numbers. Look at the frequency. Look at the finishing. 58% when he’s driving. He’s he’s doing it. I forget the amount of times per game. It’s it’s head and shoulders above every above everybody. I believe that in 85% I’m making up this number, but I’m on 85 to 90% of his drives that a whistle does get called, he’s actually getting fouled. But then we also got that 15 to 10% where he’s not getting fouled and he’s getting the call because he’s either embellishing, he’s playing for the call, or he’s just a superstar and he gets that whistle. So, personally, it’s not a problem to me if 85% of the time he’s driving to the basket, he’s actually getting the foul. Some of the fouls that Jaden McDaniels had in that second half legitimately were stupid fouls. The one that he fouled out on, you have five fouls. You know who you’re guarding. Why is your hand grabbing his shooting hand on a drive? They showed the first angle and I’m like, “Oh, that’s that’s a bit ticky tack, ain’t it?” Then they showed the up top angle. He grabbed the whole arm. Yes, that’s a foul. Does Shay and Bellis Yes. Yes. But for me personally, I’m talking about me as a ball watcher. It it has never got to the point where it has prevented me from liking the game of basketball. Some people are saying, and this is my la this is my last analogy on it, and I won’t bring it up again unless it becomes something I think it’s worth talking about again. I think the problem at it all is the rate of it. Right? If if I am I’m I’m Shay in this situation. If I drive to the basket, making up numbers just to make it even a hundred times and in that 100 times I get 20 whistles. And then you drive to the basket 20 times and you get four whistles. Guess what? The frequency of those whistles are exactly the same. But because I do it five times more than you. Of course, it looks like my whistle is better. I’m more aggressive than you are. Right. And when I say that these dudes settled and they took 50-pointers. Yeah, they’re not going to have a great whistle when you’re shooting 53-pointers out of 80. That’s just that’s my personal take on it. I’m w I’m completely open to people disagreeing with that. At the end of the day, we’re all watching basketball. Everybody’s going to view it differently. So, I’m not saying anybody’s right or wrong, but from my POV, I I’m going to rewatch the fouls for sure, but it was only one. It was one in the in the first half that I um I don’t know where my book is at. It’s probably downstairs. Um, one of the fouls that Jamie McDaniels had when Shay was on the left elbow, he he did a spin, he kicked his leg out, he hit an A1. That was the one one of the ones in my notes I’m like, “Oh, that’s questionable.” And even when they showed the drift replays, I’m like, “I just don’t see a foul there.” So, I’m not saying that he doesn’t embellish. I’m not saying that he doesn’t get a good whistle. I’m not saying that he doesn’t jump into players to to get the whistle. I’m saying it’s not a problem to me. Where have y’all been? This has been a thing across basketball for a very long time. Whether it be the Hartness, whether it be the Bees, whether it be the Paws, whether it be the D Roses, whether it be the Cobes, whether it be the weights. We could go throughout every generation. That’s just the That’s just the way it is. I don’t think the pro I think the if anything, it’s the way it’s officiated versus the player. Hey man, I’m 05 right now. Damn, I got to get myself going. You know, the best way to get yourself going, there’s only two ways is getting a layup or hitting the free throw line. And Shay started off this game not being able to hit a shot. Let me get to the line. Let me get to the line. So that’s that’s my take on it all. And that again that might be the last time ever talk about it because I think it it eliminates the actual basketball talk because I promise you OKC didn’t win because Shay got to the free throw line tonight. That’s just my take. That’s my

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