Top Defensive Plays From 2024-25 Playoffs | NBA Defense Week | OKC Thunder

Top Defensive Plays From 2024-25 Playoffs | NBA Defense Week | OKC Thunder

Best defensive team in the league this year in Oklahoma City and right on Q with the deflection by Hartenstein. Jackson was open to the corner. Missed the three. Edy. What a block by Homer. Good. Memphis two of 11 from deep. Second chance opportunity. Turnover by Bane. Williams challenged. Gets the layup. And a breakout year for Wiggins. And he has owned Memphis this year. 19 points a game in their four matchups. Right now, the Thunder just pouring it on. Bane’s pass knocked away and stolen by Jaylen Williams. Seventh in the league in steals. Wiggins the love. Oh my goodness. Williams with the steal, knocking it away from Huff. He’ll get the layup in transition. He’s, you know, come to play the Grizzlies four times and they’re trying to keep that ball out of his hands. And there’s that move where he poked the ball away. This time he’s going to cash in those chips. You got to come away from underneath the basket. Then you got to play that hot pick and roll. There’s another turnover pocket pick. Jacob on the other end is going to guide it home for the jam. How about this talked about 6 seconds somehow keeping that pivot foot down. SJ with the denial. Bagley didn’t know what to do and so he turns it over. Bagley picked up his dribble and no one came over to help him out. Shay down the lane. Hanks in the air for the score. Just got to continue to keep the pace up there. Make it difficult for the Grizzlies to get back in rhythm. And they’re not going to get in rhythm there with Peruso on the recovery. Blocking it out of bounds on the drive from Mor. I think he’s dropped in from Tinker Air Force Base over at Midwest City with a major move inside as Slaughter on the backside backto back big time plays. Playoff careerhigh 24 points. Ball pops up. SGA take it the other end. [Music] Ball punched away. Under 5 seconds. Bane getting harassed by Case Wallace. There’s the turnover. They hit ahead. Jub behind everybody and Jub with the slam in transition. Talk about stringing together stops. This is one right here. A big one. The strip by Kase Wallace and then the shuffle pass out to Jub. Plenty of time. A lot of time left in this ball game. You just got to string them together to slow down this Grizzlies offense. Oh, nice defense by Jaylen Williams. By him. And take a look at this. He blocks it and almost st not yet to the midway point of the third. SGA got a hand on it and Memphis gives it right back. Shay surveys, watch the three, pulls up right over Edy and knocks it down. It has been a grind to get that deficit under 20. That’s a magical number with over a quarter and a half of basketball remaining. But great hustle that time by him also though. How about this good steal up ahead is Joe and the left-handed layup in transition off the turnover. Aldama trying to drive on SGA who’s got to be careful with the fouls. There’s a turnover on man rush here for OKC. Caruso right back. SGA and he bumps the dunk. Caruso right there for the follow. Almost 5 minutes gone by here in the first quarter. It’s Dort on Pippen and that pass never looked comfortable down to Edy. He never got possession and the Thunder have it up top. It’s JDub. He’ll step into the three on that possession. Shot may have been tipped by Edy, the 7’4 man in the middle. How about this big block by SGA? My goodness. To back him down. Kiso has held his ground so well in the first three games. And there’s another turnover. It flops right over to Caruso. Wallace down the lane and he’s able to scoop it up and in. Sometimes you just got to just watch it. Okay, look at this guy, man. You know, he is so clever with his defense and you know the officials right now. Look like Wallace was going to have the layup. Pman on the other end. And speaking of a block, there is Alex Caruso on the recovery. How about this? Caruso coming over just batting. Not sure he had a plan there. Canard had it poked away on the backside. Brusso yet again with another defensive play. JDub down the lane and how about that high scoop off the window back in 2023. Also led the NBA in blocks but blocks her way down. Kippen on the drive and that time Jet Holgren was ready for it. He swaps it away up ahead. It’s Wiggins on the reverse and he’ll cap it off in transition with Bane now with it in the corner. Under 10 seconds. Bane wants to drive. Looked like SGA might have got a piece of it going out of bounds with three seconds. Homegrren drives. Knock away by Porter. Turnover. Look who’s leading the break. Jokic gets it back from Gordon. Puts it up. Denied. Homegrren big of this first quarter. Not giving up on the play. Chad Holgren getting back and blocking an alley. Joic ahead for Murray. Attack mode here for Denver. And that pass was errant. Break opportunity. Caruso ahead of the back. Always can be a bit tenuous. Intercepted by Caruso. Get ahead. The acceleration. Wallace gets the hoop in the horn. Blocked by Watson. Get it ahead. Murray. Olay. Defense. It’s rejected by Caruso. Comes back to knock it off the glass. And then Caruso making a spectacular play. Not quitting on off the rim. Knocked to the baseline. Controlled by Gordon. Spin denied. Harden was there in regulation. Step in. Steal by Dort. Dort’s going to try to do it himself. He missed it. Kept alive by Brown. Gilg Alexander cleans it up on the inside. is three of 13 from the field. Feed it inside and bounce off of Joic turnover. Look, Russell Westbrook is in. Gilis Alexander gets it to go and put an English on it. The Canadian execute at the end of the game like they would have liked. Didn’t finish. Didn’t slam the door shut as Mark D said to us. Turnover. Wallace ahead. Joe Cokeway, but he put it to Hartstein and Do is there. I said that I love you. Missed there by Wiggins out of the timeout. And I like how I’m sure he told Stephanie that he was very a matter of fact like no one else in the league can do that as Stephen and steal. Wiggins takes it to the upper room. 23-11 in this first half. Quite a different story from game one. That’s not working either. Joic tried to hit Westbrook upstairs. Slammed down. That could be tough. Nice feet inside. Gordon had it partially blocked. No foul. Hardenstein got a piece of it. Gilus Alexander with the midi and a technical foul called a moment ago on Aaron Gordon. He felt he was fouled on that contest by Hardenstein on his dunk attempt. [Music] Now out on the wing. A little brush screen for Joic. Wiggins really fought. Gordon got around in front. There you go. They got in the wings just what you were talking about. Jay and Dort couldn’t finish. Hardenstein and one. Brown was right there for that rebound. But a really good job by Wallace to get this steal. But watch how Hartinstein just goes right over Christian Brown. Takes it away. Yic against Homegrren. double team. Then he got peeled clean. Williams in transition. Oh, he caught a body. They lead by 13. Here’s Murray and they turned him over. Those great hands by Case Wallace. What a pest. Hardenstein catching a body. Well, especially when it starts with their defense. The pressure on the ball, the active hands to knock it away and then taking it down the other way. and give Hartinstein credit for running the floor. Given the signal to Caruso, he just throws it up. OKC felt it was last touch by Denver. That’s not how the officials saw it. So, the Nuggets take over. Ball popped in the air. Wallace accelerating all the way. He went up for the layup, the concentration to finish. Wallace has been so good. He wants to dance with Homegrren. Murray jab, jumper. It’s short. Watson. Another board. Rejected on the inside right here. Beautiful block. SGA. Not just an offensive player. Aipo. [Applause] I thought he could have swung it. Jayen Williams was open there in the corner. Murray had an intercept and he tried to hit Brown. Kiljis Alexander steps in. They cut off SGA initially. That won’t stop him. They are okay with their execution of their defense on Yic. Yes, he has a lot more points. He’s making those threes. He just says he wants it to be a little tighter. Wants his strategy to stay the same. Stein ready for Gordon with a big old block. That was great outside defense. Great block without Shot clock down to seven. Joic. What a pass to Brown. And great recovery. Hungren with his 12th block of the series. Who’s guarding him? This you do see a lot of Chad Hung over two blocks a game in this series. [Music] Joic has Caruso on him. Joic slotted away by Williams. What a great defensive play. Be aware to get into that passing lane. And this is Joic tries to one hand this because he was holding off. Here’s Yic driving. Swings it. Tried to get it back. The pass by Westbrook broken up beautifully by Jaylen Williams. Wallace lays it in with the left hand. Was moving and there was no contact to the head. You see Westbrook throws that too much to the center of Joic’s body with his defender. Incredible skill and balance to come out of that spin practically falling down and using that frame to get all the way there. Westbrook again driving, turns it over again. Numbers if they hurry. Williams throws it down. And the one thing I’ll say to Christian Brown, if you’re trying to inbound it right here, that ball’s got to come up in the air. Aaron Gordon’s got a massive size advantage. What a play by Jaylen Williams to steal the inbound pass. Homegrren in transition flies in there. More freedom of movement right now. OKC starting to bottle them up. They have just eight points here in the second quarter. Denver Watson got free underneath. Great defensive play. Car suddenly the Thunder knocked down a couple of threes. They’re back up by three. Ball stolen. Lot of contact. Caruso goes inside. David Alman upset as is Gordon who thought there should have been a foul call. [Applause] [Music] Westbrook on the drive inside to Watson. Watson knocked away by SGA with a minute remaining here on the second. Williams pumps it away. Ya trying to get it. Williams comes away and throws it down. Another turnover. Back to Williams inside. It’s good. the space of Denver at every turn. Alex Caruso loses contact to get around Joic to get the steal. And this is they need to show up big now because of the deficit. Meanwhile, Alex Caruso getting the start here in the second half. Murray turns it over. There was contact there. Gildas Alexander goes down and you know the circumstance, but at game seven, he’s not out there. Pass deflected, stolen. Jaylen Williams got the second deflection. SGA drives in and lays it up off the glass. Williams. A lot of contact out there on Murray. Lob it into Yokic. Stolen by Wallace. Another forced turnover. Caruso lays it up and in. He has seven of their nine points. The Randall Jaylen Williams matchup will be fun. Hartstein knocks it away on the double team. Wallace alley up to Hartinstein. defense to so this is what we’re talking about. They are hunting this kind of play. You’re at the nail. Everybody’s in shrink and this is Edwards looking for the screen. Wallace runs over it and Daniels left open now drives. Lost the handle. Picked up by Williams again in the open floor. And it’s a group of individuals who pride themselves on making their opponent uncomfortable. You present the ball in front of this team and I promise you that length and the speed of their hands turns into two. Isaiah Joe trying to guard him here. The spin move kicks it out. He’s triple team McDaniels and they can’t get the three to go now. Nas Reed the rebound. Shot clock at five. Layup blocked by Homer. Randle drives on Dort. Backs in. Backs in. Tries to split the defense and lost the ball. Foul, bucket, count it, and one. They go for Randall. Guilders Alexander with the steal. They’re in the top 10 in the NBA and steals for game. Jaylen Williams back out. Caruso sets, fires, connects. Might see the steel. You might see the steel, but at the end of the day, it’s that pressure defense up top that allows for that to happen. And then once they get in transition, then having some injuries. The more games he’s put together, he’s going to be a future allstar in this league. Go too strong off the glass. Hartenstein. Even Chenzo floats it in to Rand stolen by Lord. Alexander Walker with the foul. Counted and one. One of those second half thunderbolts right now. Alexander Walker finds go. Knocked away by SGA. Here comes Wallace. Alioop to Homegr. Nas Reed pokes it ahead to McDaniels. Great transition defense and the steel. Williams to Hungren. Blocked by Reed. Williams puts it up and in on the follow. Gord trying to fight over a screen. Go gets it. Drives down the lane. Shot blocked. Prim got a piece of it and SGA comes the other way, drives, kicks it out right side. Jaylen Williams nails the first shot and he’s become the ninth man in the rotation. Was terrific in game three. He’s become a crowd favorite rather quickly. Stolen by Williams. A telegraph pass. And Jayla Williams now with 15 points. See for me, look, you got two bigs. You got Julius Randle and Nas Reed out there on the perimeter with two all defo in front. Edwards to McDaniels. McDaniels on the drive to spin the layup. Blocked by Hongren picked up by SGA. The sevenfooter. That’s a spin move. It looks like he’s lost his balance. The ability at that size to recover and not have that hit window first. Folks, you are looking at a big time shot blocker. That was a foul. No man’s land. He stepped up to put some pressure on SGA and Randle puts some pressure but Hardenstein throws it right back. The play we just said, you know, he was a no man’s. What a great block. [Applause] Rand off the bounce. Caruso knocks it away. Comes up with a steal. Throws it back and Gilas Alexander the unselfish play. Anytime you turn your back or even if you don’t, they are looking to steal the basketball. And Julius right away puts his head down and doesn’t react to get back defensively. Natalie throws it in deep. Randall triple team drives in. Shot blocked. Ball knocked loose. Williams to Wallace. That’s William Wallace. Hunger goes inside. Throws it down. [Applause] Naz Reed trying to get aggressive. Another turnover. Jaylen Williams goes up and lays it in. Minnesota needs another timeout. Edwards finds the corner. McDaniels the baseline. Lost it. Got it back. Puts it back up. Blocked by Homer. Edwards. Nice fake. Pass deflected and stolen. SGA down a lane. Throws it down. More defense to offense. They still have room to grow, but I think this year so far it’s still been encouraging. And another block by Ken Holmes. Dort hits the three. Exclamation points. Something they’ve been working on for a year and a half. They’re a great offensive team last year, but were inconsistent on the other end. Mathan drives, goes right inside. Blocked from behind by Caruso to win their first championship and then have 73 the next. Caruso trying to stop Seakum. Blocked by Dort again. to help defense. Russo just got over the timeline. Drives in. Layup is no good. Hardenstein with the stop. McConnell holding. Good ball denial. Stolen by Williams. Bad pass. A turnover and a costly one as Jaylen Williams throws it down. Largest lead of the game. Timeout Indiana. And it’s always clean. Clean switch initially. Nowhere to go but the long pass. That means it’s closing speed for Jaylen Berki. Back to Nith. Kneesmith. The drive inside. Blocked by Dort. Oh, what a rejection from Lou Dort. SGA drives the finish. It’s good. This challenge. Straight verticality. Then the block, the discipline. This is ridiculous. Stays straight. Those arms can come over if contact forces it. He stays. Allebertton fake, strides back up top. McConnell [Applause] Tophen aggressive goes inside. Blocked by Hodman. Rejects it out of bounds. Still pacer ball. Excellent defensive play. He’s gone double big and he can do it because Obie and Bryant are on the floor. So what does the double big give you, Chad? We said we had to feel you at the rim tonight. Russo putting on the pressure. Shaka picked up his dribble. Gets it in to Nmith. He’s been blocked by Gilg Alexander. Thomas Bryan in the game. Stolen by Caruso. That’s their first turnover since the first quarter. Williams kicks it out. Caruso lines that one up and got the three the same time. Wiggins misses the three. Hallebertton pumped away from behind by Caruso. Releases the other way. Seakum in pursuit. Still a layup. And that’s the whole force of this Oklahoma City defense. That is Alex Caruso at his best. The tip ste good hands from Nmith once again on the offensive boards. Drives inside. Blocked by Homegrren. Wallace comes the other way. Tason Wallace takes a bump back. Kenri Williams banks it home. Maybe it’s not the first quarter. Maybe it’s not the second quarter, but like I said, it’s like Novacane. Give it time. It will work. They will wear you down. SGA. The steel goes up. Lays it in. Turnover got a little sloppy with a dribble. Williams running ahead of the pack goes in and throws it down. Scott Foster who’s received some criticism from some calls and not calls in game four that was greatly appreciated by the officiating staff. Hallebertton falls down. Caruso just checked in. Drives layup. It’s good. But on that last turnover, Turner has to hold his position. [Music] Seakum double team backto- back turnovers here early second. Wiggins lines it up. Knocks it down. Oliver beautiful pass to Shepard. Shepard stolen by Caruso. Outlet Williams goes up again. Layup is good and the foul. And it’s their defense again doing what they do getting out in transition. Finish this a big three minutes for both teams. Top and fakes pass inside to Seiakum and Seakum thought he was sevenfooter hasn’t played that many games. One spot to the other twice off the pike. Bradley getting some very important minutes right now. Nimhard stolen. Wallace with the steel and throws it down. Kase Wallace with a bucket to navigate one-on-one situations into your sweet spot. That is SGA at its best. Albert gets inside. Shot blocked. Demar Matin stolen by Williams. One man to beat. Williams gets inside. Madin got a piece of it, but Williams still banks it home. Machine going to take its toll. Little turnover. One-on-one battle. I don’t know how he finishes this backside help from Matherin. Great shot blocker. Almost gets a piece. And I How does he make that shot? McConnell deflected by Hartstein. Throws it ahead. Wallace goes up for the layup. Bench good. McConnell goes right at Homer. Pulls back out again across the lane. Spins. Finds Neith. Blocked by Homegrren. Dort the save in the finals offensively, but not defensively. Guard the toughest guy to guard tonight. Yep. hurry all season long. One of the best offensive teams. Shot blocked by Hogren on the are always an interesting thing. Yet another one given up by Oklahoma City. But the great reaction from Chad.

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