Everything That Went Wrong With The OKC Thunder

Everything That Went Wrong With The OKC Thunder

very few times in NBA history do you see the number one seed get dismantled like this OKC finished the season with the number three ranked offense and the number four ranked defense the second highest net rating in the entire league behind only the Boston Celtics yet against the Dallas Mavericks they got picked apart on both ends of the floor the Mavs look like the far superior team and the Thunder had no answers at multiple positions it was still a successful season for OKC nobody expected them to be so good in the first place their lack of size which is a problem they were supposed to address at the trade deadline which they didn’t funny enough they actually helped Dallas make the trade that turned their season around the team that ultimately ended their playoff run how’s it going folks my name’s Andy and in this video let’s take a look at everything that went wrong with the Oklahoma City Thunder throughout the regular season the Thunder had a major advantage that most teams do not have every player on their team can shoot dribble and pass from one to five they have Shooters down the board even on their bench hence why they finished the season as the number one three-point shooting team in the entire NBA they also led the league in drives per game with 62.1 and converted them at the second highest efficiency on 54% if you’re that good at shooting threes and attacking the rim it makes sense why why their offense looked so good some even compareed them to the likes of the Golden State Warriors of the past everything is in motion every player is constantly on the attack and moving against the Dallas Mavericks however since the trade deadline when they acquired PJ Washington and Daniel gaffard they’ve had one of the NBA’s most disciplined defenses Washington is a standout player and he single-handedly wrecked havoc in OKC’s pick and roll game it got to the point where even if a thunder player attacks the basket they’re starting from so far out it gives the rest of his team time to rotate combined with the ridiculous length of their centers they’re constantly patrolling the paint and basically shrinking the floor so their teammates don’t have to rotate as far to contest a shot OKC’s points in the paint dropped by over 10 points a game against the Mavs with the Mavs moving on defense like a single string the Thunder’s lack of shot creation outside of sheay became quite evident SGA takes it at Hardaway oh that’s ridiculous Shay Guiles Alexander in his bag heck this series would have been over a lot quicker if Shay didn’t single-handedly carry them to victory in game four they offense looked so stagnant for 95% of that game so the drive and kick was their bread and butter even though the Thunder still initiated the most drives of any playoff team even more so than the regular season they did not create the same advantages from it due to the Mavs rotations they’re seeing a Defender with every pass with the M’s fantastic one-on-one defense at the wings OKC is no longer a step faster than their opponent heck even Kyrie Irving has been an absolute Menace on defense and that’s a sentence I thought I’d never say to be fair the Thunder also missed a ton of wide open shots they shot 28% on open 3es which nba.com defines a shot where the defender is only 4 to 6 feet away I mean that’s a very bad percentage but it makes sense when you see how much pressure their defense and forces it makes the players want to rush their shots however the most suffocating part of the maps defense is their ability to protect the basket out of all 16 teams in the playoffs OKC had the fifth lowest percentage within 5 ft of the basket and the third lowest percent from 5 to 9 ft these playoff numbers actually look better because of their dominance against the New Orleans Pelicans but if they were just against the Mavs they’re much lower by having fast agile big men the rest of the team did not need to help as much so they can stick to their man stick to their Shooters normally OKC thrives off of drive and kicks by abusing mismatches to get open looks yet the Mavs had no mismatches that can be exploited their superb communication has resulted in a game plan that completely nullified the Thunder’s offensive repertoire Josh giddy quote it’s a conversation that’s been ongoing it’s obviously something teams have deployed against us we have to continue to figure out the best way to improve through it that’s what coach Mark dagnal said in response to a question about the spacing problems with Josh giddy on the floor he said that earlier in the season but we all knew it would be relevant in the playoffs a huge storyline of this series heck of the entire season has been Josh giddy’s fit on the Thunder in the math Series in particular he barely played at all and when he did play he was awful his lack of shooting is one thing we all know giddy is not a confident three-point shooter and his mere existence on the court allows the Mavs to just ignore him completely I mean just look at how the Mavs are defending him on these plays right here Derek Jones Jr is the guy assigned to defend giddy but as you can tell he’s not even looking at him instead he comes to help out PJ Washington to guard Shay who’s been the only consistent offensive threat for the entire Series this play here Gafford sags off so much that he’s still guarding the paint even though his man is supposed to be giddy remark to the referee Luka led the NBA and scoring during the regular season 34 points per game it’s nice to have fast athletic bigs who can recover and contest the jumper as he did right here because he’s so quick he can afford to do this here’s an even more glaring example Shay is going oneon-one against Kyrie he tells giddy to get out of the way assuming Lively will go follow him but he doesn’t he stays cuz he knows Kyrie is going to need help and just as planned Shay runs into Lively he’s forced to pass it out and since he has great Court Vision he finds giddy for the open three now theoretically Shay makes the correct play here when you get doubled you got to find the open man except this is giddy we’re talking about there’s a reason he’s this wide open here’s a similar play to the last one with Luca playing free safety completely ignoring giddy we all know by now how severely he cripples the team but it’s not even just his shooting but his poor defense that doesn’t get talked about as much in this play right here there’s no reason Tim Hardway Jr should be blowing past you giddy did not even get a contest here and it happened again right here giddy somehow falls for the weakest pump fake ever and gets blown by once again you know what’s funny in game two the Thunder got outscored by a whopping 20 points in the 10 minutes he was on the floor like that’s just unfathomable how does a single player in the 10 minutes he played get outscored by 20 while the rest of his team have rather normal plus minuses plays like this are the reason why this wasn’t a particularly new phenomenon Josh giddy’s place in the organization has been questioned for many months now and with OKC’s game plan emphasizing spacing he’s simply a bad fit when Mark was asked about giddy getting benched finally he responded it gave us a chance to get back into some normal attacks on offense H so if giddy is on the floor they can’t run their normal stuff on offense well coming from the coach himself it’s pretty solid evidence that giddy’s time in OKC is coming to an end mark dag n w coach of the year and it’s not like he’s stupid even he admitted giddy’s presence on the floor is a detriment to their offense but he also made it clear he was going to stick with the same lineup as the regular season because it worked back then it took him several games to realize how bad he truly is against a team with all the tools to attack his weaknesses but even if gidy didn’t play at all there’s only so much a coach can do when he doesn’t have the Personnel to match up the lob is running it’s right down the middle for donic lob and slam gliding through the air it’s Jones with major elevation another key talking point for the Mavs is Luca’s lingering knee injury he sprained his knee against the Clippers in game three but he could not afford to sit out in the series against OKC you could tell he’s a step slower in the first four games of the series he averaged just 22 points a game 31% from three but unlike most other superstars in the NBA Luca impacts the game in so many ways Beyond his scoring the map’s best most effective play all season long is the lob it felt like they got at least five or six lobs every game and their points came a lot easier in general how is it that the NBA’s number four ranked defense continuously got manhandled like this over and over again oh another Banger for Dallas it’s Lively one thing that’s been a noticeable concern coming into the playoffs was the Thunder’s lack of size remember when folks believed the Lakers would be a difficult matchup for them due to their sheer size well that Theory came to fruition against Dallas Luca is listed at 6′ 7 but he’s taller than everyone in the Thunder starting lineup except for Chad hren and giddy but he doesn’t count when he’s being guarded by Lou Dort who’s 6’3 he can easily see over him and make pinpoint passes you can’t make up 4 in this easily when Luca runs pick and roll after pick and roll someone needs to help thus giving him an easy lob to the rim or an easy pass into the paint even OKC’s backup center Jay will is only 6’9 and nowhere near as athletic as Gafford or Lively the lob has been the M’s most impactful play because there’s literally nobody on this team who can out jump Gafford or Lively when hren gets pulled out of the paint or hecked even if he’s still in the paint and needs to help his teammate rotating over is useless because he’s too small by the way chat’s defense is phenomenal not just in the playoffs but during the regular season he held opponents to a significantly lower percentage near the rim than Rudy goar and on a similar number of contests I mean that’s crazy he defended the basket at a rate that was better than the four-time Defensive Player of the Year Chad can’t do it alone he needs help down there the lob and Luca’s excellence in the pick and roll gives the Mavs a consistent form of offense that’s incredibly difficult for any team to stop let alone an undersized Thunder roster the ability to get these easy high percentage shots right at the basket is something the Thunder do not have the privilege of doing for them even when they do attack the rim every shot is contested it’s a struggle to break through the Mavs defense it’s hard to measure experience cuz it doesn’t show on the box score but it’s been brought up now and then that the OKC starting lineup had an average age younger than 23 years old they were the youngest number one seed in NBA history and nobody on this team has significant playoff experience not even Shay whose only previous appearances came when he was younger and wasn’t the same player he is today for everyone else they seemed rattled a lot of them trying to force the issue rushing their shots and when things aren’t going their way they don’t know what to do contrast this to a guy like Kyrie Irving a former champion and seasoned playoff veteran who’s seen it all even in the games when he’s not scoring well he still cool and calm meticulously running the offense when Luca needs a break oh and don’t forget it’s also Mark dagnal first year making the playoffs so it’s a learning experience for the head coach too the time will come for this team eventually there’s nothing to worry about as the Thunder are in the best situation out of all teams in the NBA a season that excelled past their expectations even if the result was unfortunate they also happen to have a ton of first round picks so they’re good to go no team has a better present and future than OKC let’s see if they can actually do it this time thank you all so much for watching I hope yall enjoyed the video let me know in the comments your thoughts on the Thunder season what kind of players can they aim for to help improve their team and fix their matchup problems I hope you all enjoyed the video and of course as always I’ll see you next time peace

Let’s take a detailed look into everything that caused the demise of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the youngest 1st seed in NBA history. Enjoy!

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