OKC Thunder can play with ANYONE, SGA dominates, Chet makes adjustments, DORT!

OKC Thunder can play with ANYONE, SGA dominates, Chet makes adjustments, DORT!

The Oklahoma City Thunder earn a statement win over Minnesota sgaa absolutely dominates Chad hren makes the adjustments and Lou Dort could not miss all coming up on today’s lockdown Thunder podcast you are locked on Thunder your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day

Let’s get it going on the lockon Thunder podcast on the lockon podcast Network your team every day I am your host media member editorinchief over at Thundurus intentions. Ryland Styles follow me on Twitter Ryland Styles follow the show on Twitter L thunderpod email the show thunderpod gmail.com on today’s show

Brought to you by game time we’re diving into the Oklahoma City Thunder earning a statement win over the Minnesota Timberwolves SGA dominates this game Lou Dort was on fire meich minutes happened we’ll talk about it all on today’s show brought to you by game time go download

The game time app create your account use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase what a game this was you know the thunder come into this game fully healthy JB was questionable with an illness he played played very well Josh giddy questionable with an ankle

Injury he played played well Carl Anthony towns came in questionable for Minnesota he missed their previous game he plays in this one as well so both teams fully healthy this is the best team in the West in Minnesota the best defense in the NBA in Minnesota and a

Team who is viewed as an awful matchup for OKC a team who’s already beat OKC in you know the Thunder have not even lost double dig games yet they now improved to 19-9 Minnesota drops to 22-7 but if you go back to what the environment was what the Vibes were following that loss

In Minnesota right it felt like oh the Thunder can’t beat Minnesota they can’t beat good teams like Minnesota like Sacramento that was what was put on them following that loss they they got a big lead in the first quarter you about double digit lead in the first quarter

Minnesota switches to Zone and it just looks devastating it looks like there’s non players on the court things like that and on the first night of back-to-back Oklahoma City got to rest their starters late in the game because they won 129 to 106 against Minnesota and the Thunder proved in this

One that they are legit and you look at this stretch you know we’ve been we’ve been bullish on this Thunder team especially in the regular season but it’s always come with a caveat of it’s early it’s a young team but we made this next five games layout and so far they’re through three

Games with two wins and if they somehow split the second night of a back-to-back against New York and a road game in Denver that would put them at New Year’s Eve against Brooklyn with at most 10 losses and it would really just continue to legitimize the season at hand they’ve

Made it through Christmas as a top three team in the West for the majority of that time being a top two team in the west they’ve taken on a Clippers team that won nine in a row a Lakers team that called it a must-win a Timberwolves team that was

Supposedly a bad matchup for OKC and not to say that every game will Trend this way but I think that this game more so than what it means for these two teams specifically I think it just shows that the Thunder looking at them only in this the Thunder can compete with any team

This should reaffirm to you that there is no match up and there’s no Series where you go into it and just say there’s no chance the Thunder can win this obviously some are tougher than others obviously you know you’re going to want to avoid certain matchups if you

Can help it but that’s going to be the case for every basketball team to ever grace the floor there’s always going to be good and bad matchups but this team doesn’t have impossible matchups there are no matchups for this team where you look at it and just throw your hands up

And say if you can just steal a game a gentleman sweep would be considered a good series from this team and it’s because you saw SGA dominate it’s because you saw Chad holgren make the adjustments against Rudy goar and against Minnesota and in big games against big matchups L Dort continues to play

Exceptionally well and sometimes there’s just these players who a knack for Rising their level of play when games dictate it they play up to the moment and while it’s not a huge sample size right we’re not going to pretend that ludor has played in a billion big

Games in his career but every time that a game feels like it has some extra juice feels like it it means a little bit more than a ho hum game ludor has a knack for making the right plays and making big plays and so this Thunder

Team I think is a top four team in the west we can go on down the line about what the playoffs and what that means but they can compete with anyone and I think that Minnesota showed that because the head of the snake is an MVP like

Sgaa put out there over 30 points he had 30 points at the end of the third quarter it just so happened that he only had to play 33 minutes tonight or else that 34 points would have been a lot more he scored Four Points in the fourth

Quarter and the Thunder won 129 to 106 but he was hitting tough mid-range shots early and often he had an awesome pass to JB around cat on the two-on-one a bounce pass around cat for the slam he went he went spinning through the lane and

Kicked it out to L Dort in the corner for three hitting tough step through moves after he got switched on to Rudy isolated him backs him down gets him in the air step through easy bucket and what is so encouraging is that there is no Shay stopper

Right no matter what you do game to game more often than not Shay’s going to find a way to succeed and you saw that against Minnesota they threw everything at Shay and none of it worked they threw nil Alexander Walker Anthony Edwards Rudy go bear Kyle Anderson they threw everything at

Sgaa Jaden you know Jaden McDaniels and it did not matter Nas Reed at times and it did not matter SGA was able to shoot 73% % from the floor and you can talk all you want about free throws and and getting calls SGA took a lot of contact and only shot

Seven free throws went six for seven at the charity stripe Anthony Edwards you know to his credit got got 13 free throws got to the line a lot you know drove hard to the rim scored 25 points in this game but SGA gets it done on both ends two Steals and a block

He is truly an MVP caliber player I don’t think that you can have him lower than three right now on your ballot but for a guy who finished top five last year in MVP and was a first-time Allstar and was all NBA first team it felt like there was not another

Gear to hit not another step to to to take not another leap to make but he’s done it somehow the motor to play on both ends is out of this world and it’s and is an unbelievably rare occurrence to do it night in and night out on the perimeter

There are guys who can rear back and get that fast ball right in the playoffs or in certain matchups they can rear back and go and go play that way for 48 minutes of of playing excellent defense and leading the way offensively there’s not very many guards

Who can do it on both ends every single night who can have sga’s usage rate on offense and be as good as him on defense that is truly unprecedented in Adam Silvers NBA like this is this is something to behold of what SG is doing and again what’s so

Encouraging is I don’t know how you take him away this is a guy who who does not light it up from three and fact goes over three tonight from three and still shoots 73% over three from three on really good looks and still shot 73% from the floor that shows you how good

He was inside the ark to still hit that number this is guy who who you would live with shooting a three because for whatever reason they just don’t go in often enough for aier and yet you still can’t guard them you still don’t know where where to pick

Them up on the floor like like most of the time there’s a there’s a detail oriented scouting report of when to pick up guys whenever they bring the ball to the floor how much space to give them how much pressure to put on them at certain areas on the

Floor no matter what you choose to do it’s wrong when you’re defending s you can’t give him the mid-range so you can’t back off and and try to wall up at The Rim right and if you press too far up in the mid-range to take away his mid-range

Shot he can just use use an assortment of moves to get to the basket and then if you send help and you rotate hard or double team or bled some off the pick and roll or collapse in the paint as he’s driving then he’s just going to beat you

With math of hey there’s three guys on me somebody’s open and he has a knack for finding the right guy there’s often times he finds the right guy and the shot just doesn’t go in so it doesn’t necessarily you know boost his assist numbers but the process was still there

To where they you get Knights like this where chat’s hitting threes I Joe’s hitting threes dorts hitting threes and you get Knights like this one from aier know for all intensive purposes he played three quarters and had nine assists and 34 points a Unreal game from M and again

Minnesota’s fully healthy Minnesota went to that dreaded Zone early on in this game and it did not work a lot of this comes down to make or Miss and and you saw that you know unfold these last two games the Thunder could not hit water out of a boat against the

Lakers and they could not miss against the Timberwolves part of that is just the way the ball bounces but part of that is because of how talented the Thunder team is so it’s interesting just to kind of note but when you break down this game you can continue to see how

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Your team every day thank you so much for making us your first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you talking Thunder basketball folks what a time this is subscribe for free across all podcasting platforms and on YouTube because this is going to be a

Fun second half of the season in Oklahoma City and a fun postseason return got to the play and last year in OKC playoffs is what’s inbound this year that’s partly due to Chad hren you look at this game as a whole from Chad got past Rudy go be on the

Bounce a lot was able to pull off a give and go with with Josh giddy where uh you know chat’s on ball uses a pump fake to get Rudy in the air dishes it off to Josh Giddy and Sprints to the rim the pass from giddy feeds into a perfectly

Uh open and good layup from ched at The Rim Rim finish for chat there and you’re also seeing his Crea ity just as an non-ball weapon and kind of why the thunder I think placed a point of emphasis on playmaking and decision- making and using guys who can process

The game quickly because Chet hren like we’ve seen in these first 25 six seven eight games we’ve seen Chad hren hit many a turnaround off-balance shot because of his body control and because of his balance he’s able to knock down those shots even over ad yeah get a chance like that against

Kyle Anderson where he’s kind of fading kind of off balance a little bit but if the shot goes up it probably will go in it might go in and even if it doesn’t there’s going to be no booh hooing on the sidelines or in the crowd or

Anywhere else but he kicks it out to SGA and uses SGA as a connector to swing the ball to Isaiah Joe for a wide open three a good shot turns into a great shot because you have two guys who are insanely fast at processing the game because the help came down from

Joe and Chad knew he could use SJ as a vessel to get the ball to Joe because it was a tougher angle to get the ball straight to Joe and it just generates this wide open three again from what would have been a fine shot

For chat to shoot he also has done a really good job of being a quick a quick R screener which is a tough task like I know that like he’s playing Center and you’re supposed to be able to screen as a center but the rescreen is tough to

Pull off because it’s you so easily can get hit with an illegal screen because you’re trying to screen and then screen again uh off of the initial action but his rescreen on one possession freed up Wiggins to knife through the paint and then Wiggins dumped it off to Jay dub

For an easy finish and it all started by that second chat screen for Wiggins but there were drives where and eventually they’d get a block but there were drives where like Chad didn’t register a block and unless you go back in the NBA box score and look at every field goal

Attempt you’re not going to you’re not going to see it show up in the Box Score but there were drives from Rudy and from other players where Chad gets you know doesn’t get a block or anything but he absolutely finishes and Kuts a drive where there’s nothing Minnesota can do

Except throw the ball away at The Rim or throw up a wild shot that had no chance of going in but there was a certain sequence that shows you just how special Chad is starting at the top of the key he drives in eurostep layup on the other

End comes back down Minnesota’s pushing off of a off of a make comes back down the other end gets two straight Rim contests denies the first one denies the second one gets the rebound off of that second Miss and gets a stop for the Thunder and gets to push the pace for the

Thunder that was onef sequence again it goes back to motor it goes back to level of Engagement a nice eurostep layup right back down the floor to get in defensive possession and then he’s so good at the recovery after the initial jump like watching Chad hren jump and

Like he really does jump he doesn’t like just throw his arms up and hope for the best because he’s 71 like he jumps and attacks the ball but he gets back down the floor and can rejump as though there are just Springs in his legs he embarrassed her to go bear

Multiple times you know step back in the mid-range getting around him off the dribble knocking down threes whenever nobody’s out there contesting him which again presents a tough guard and a tough matchup for other teams and I’ll say it for Chad specifically remember what was said about Chad against this very team less

Than a month ago against this very team couldn’t play against Rudy In This Very game Rudy posters Chad and gives him an extra flex and then from there on from that moment forward was when chat did the majority of his damage but he makes the adjustments to

This point in his career he’s made the adjustments game to game matchup to matchup which continues to let you buy into all that you hear about him being a hoop junkie and him being somebody who who really studies the game because he’s able to make such great adjustments against these top level

Players this is a multi-time defensive player of the year one of the most respected defensive big men and Chad goes for 20 points five assists four rebounds a block 61% from the floor and three for six from three and so going back to the to the next five

Games which is already three games down now they’ve gone two and one what can they do against New York what can they do against Denver but chat was a part and that leads us right into JB of why the thunder got this impressive win because the Thunder did a

Good job like like of just controlling the game in general this is a game that was back and forth but back and forth within raisin it’s a make or Miss League the center team can play with anybody but OKC eventually grew that 25-point lead Minnesota never led by

More than three there were only two lead changes and three ties all game two lead changes three ties for a large portion of this game there were moments where Minnesota gets within three guess with then four guess with then five in that kind of range of like it’s still only a

One possession two possession game there were moments like that but each time Minnesota countered Oklahoma City countered and it was so impressive to see and this is the big difference from last year’s team to this year’s team this is the big difference I think from your starting point of a of building out

A roster from where it was the first go around Oklahoma City you know SJ plays the entire third quarter as usual the Thunder build an 11-point lead 10-point lead to end the third and SGA goes to the bench as normal and we’ve seen time and time again how critical the non SGA minutes

Are and for SGA to be able to leave a game and often times come back to either maintain lead or you know a fivepoint fluctuation either direction three-point fluctuation either direction is so valuable because Shay is a player who the moment you insert him back into a game he doesn’t need

Possessions to ramp up he is just in attack mode just in kill mode and what Chet holgren helped the Thunder do is that is that he helped Jay dub and he helped the Thunder fill that void with SGA not on the floor expand the lead with SGA not on the

Floor and put this game to bed early on to where the Thunder legitimately were resting their guys at the end of this game which is so valuable on the front end of a back-to-back sgaa played three minutes in the fourth quarter three minutes in the fourth

Quarter if you would have said that you know 12 hours ago what direction do you think that this game went but the Thunder have the depth to be able to handle moments like this where JB looked so comfortable running the floor as the lead guy he had a hot shooting night from

Start to finish in this one was hitting some really impressive threes hit a hit a contested three off balance three even goes four for six from Beyond The Arc 21 points one rebound three assists two blocks 63% from the floor and just dominated this game in the fourth quarter

Like this team is at such a fantastic starting point and that’s what this is is a starting point because you have an MVP level player who can pass the Baton to two All-Star caliber players not to mention what you gain in this game from Lou Dort what you gain in this

Game from Isaiah Joe what you gain in this game from Kenny Williams what you gain in this game from from you know Giddy and meic and everyone else but jayob who of course battled illness like some sort of illness I don’t know about you but whenever

Whenever I get on under the weather I don’t feel like doing anything much less going out in an NBA game against the best defense in the NBA and dropping 21 points as jayb gets more and more comfortable as the guy and as the games go by you

See it every night where he’s getting more accustomed to Leading the show with an osga as that comfortability grows so does the Thunder’s potential so does the Thunder’s ability to knock off top teams in the NBA and so does the Thunder’s ability to go far even this season much

Less on Down the Line much less what they can eventually build into with a plethora assets and all that they have compiled up coming up let’s talk lud dor let’s talk this team in general but first want say right now but friends over at game time I thought this was a perfect game

To use game time you I I I think that this is a perfect example of what game time is great for because it’s the day after Christmas you’re off work family’s out of school family might be visiting in town and you you’re trying to figure

Out can I make this work can I get to the game today oh wait G these question questionable jdub’s questionable carony towns is questionable and we didn’t learn about jdub and cat two of the Premier players in this game we didn’t learn about jetb and Cat until after the

Coaches talked around you know six o’clock for a 7M tip but what game time is so good at is their ability to have these last minute tickets lowest prices guaranteed Flash Deals Zone deals you can find and buy tickets for all kinds of events in your area you get a view

From your seat you get the lowest prices guaranteed events cancellation protection job loss protection you get it all at game time so you know we all love the NBA you know a lot of you listening to this are in Oklahoma and and can oftentimes discuss going to

Games you’re G to get the last minut of tickets get the lowest prices and you can wait until we know the facts of who’s playing who’s in who’s out and what this game will look like so I love game time for that reason I think that

You should go check them out today when you do go download the game time app create your account use code locked in NBA for $20 off your first purchase uh go there right now terms apply again create your account redeem code locked

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Your team every day thank you so much for making us your first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you talking Thunder basketball make sure you go check out the lockdown sports today YouTube channel it is a 24hour streaming channel uh on YouTube

To have you cover for all the national stories and local ones with our local experts check it out today 247 sports streaming Channel first of its kind on YouTube locked on sports today now Lou D I mean goodness gracious this was a game that just showed you

Again lud dor stepping up in the big moment lud dor stepping up in a big game but it is so underrated just the pure energy levels that it takes to play the way ludor plays in these games and against this match up specifically he chased ant all around

The floor he he never wanted to switch off of Ant he never wanted to stay with screeners he was chasing him around the world keeping up with his every step shadowing in around the court that takes a lot out of you but he still hit three first half

Threes he he had an unbelievable shooting night while playing that way defensively he could find water in the desert he was shooting the ball so well everything was falling 20 points four boards two steals two blocks only one heat check which was you know good for L

Tor to to play that way right like you’re you’re playing at such a high level that it’s natural to want to do more on nights where you’re feeling it but yet ludor still went five for six from three and missed one shot inside the ark which was a heat check step back

Mid-range shot you’ll take that any day of the week any day of the week and he had you one of his two turnour was bad and one heat check was bad but like that’s fine because we’ve also you know L’s credit like yes it was a heat check I don’t

Think he would have been taking that shot in that moment had he been shooting the ball you know one for four from three but in general we’ve seen Lou Dort hit that jumper we’ve seen lud Dort shoot a career best 42% from from mid-range this year 50% in the short mid-range this

Year so like that shot had a good chance of going in even though it was a heat check and then he had a nice Rim finishing transition where like you know it it looked a bit clunky but it’s because of the patience he he showed where you saw him against the Lakers

Transition chance just goes Full Speed Ahead plows to the rim throws up a shot chased down blocked by LeBron this time he uses his body as the shield between the ball and the rim gets the defender on his back who’s trying to chase him down well the is obviously

Trying to chase him down so he has all of his momentum already heading at The Rim so fre to just stop and not put a shot up leaves him with no contest because he just went full Sprint to get to you and you didn’t shoot then he goes

Up on a delayed uh finish and finishes at The Rim good job in transition an area that he has admittedly struggled in a lot uh in his career but much less this season but still this was a perfect offensive game from ludor and and not just not just the the

Shooting person those are nice it’s a make or Miss League though sometimes those shots are not going to go in but when he elected to shoot when he elected to keep the ball moving both very good from L Dort and again the the energy it takes to play his brand of basketball

And he’ll do the same thing tonight against Jaylen Brunson is underrated of like just how much that takes out of you and for him to do it night in and Night Out is impressive Josh gy I I thought it was one of his better games of the season

Three assists early in the first quarter about three minutes in he had three assists finishes that first quarter with six assists finishes the game with just seven though you know I say just seven you know after the first quarter only had one more uh but overall I I I

Thought bigger than stats in this game and the stats were fine for for Joshy it was a good Josh KY game 10 points seven assists two boards only two turnovers one was plucked away on a rebound so it was not a a playmaking turnover which is

What I think really matters for Josh KY if you fumble the ball away or or or get the ball wrestled away from you on on a on a rebound exchange who cares hairs in the broader sense we usually look at turnovers through for Josh kidy and view

Them through a playmaking prism so it’s important to denote when they’re not playmaking turnovers to kind of you know give the clear picture on what happened seven assists to the you know one turnover for Josh 57% from the floor 0 for two from three again good stat game

But forgetting the stats he only had one miss inside the arc and the process of this game for Josh gidy was why I would say it is his best game of the year he was very decisive when cutting to the rim he was very decisive when attacking the rim which

Led to free throws he had a sidestep floater from nas I I again I it was not a perfect game from Josh I would still prefer uh a few times he settled for floaters I think that if he would have used or trusted his athletic ability he

Could have gotten to the rim harder or and at least either got free throws or got a a better look than a floater at The Rim but still you know had had a side step floater over Nas uh he had the heart attack to uh get free throws you

Had the hard cut from the top of the key to have chat find him for an easy layup and even his three-point misses were fluid misses and and I say that to differentiate from from what I mean is like against Minnesota the first cor round he’d get the ball top of the key

Or in the slot primarily in the slot and be wide open nobody around them everyone’s just looking at him and he holds the ball doesn’t pass it doesn’t shoot it doesn’t drive like he just holds the ball like a deer in headlights and that’s when you play Bad basketball

If you’re Josh kidy in this game his misses were decisive his good plays were decisive he was making overall just quicker decisions offensively which is what helped this feel like a much better flowing offensive game and what helped lead the Thunder to their best output uh in terms of field goal percentage and

Their highest assist game against the best defense in the NBA in a matchup where conventional wisdom tells you they are best suited to exploit by going to Zone and having Rudy Rome you know Josh D’s weaknesses but when you make quick decisions and force Minnesota to to

React to you versus being being to be able to be proactive they’re not having to be reactive that’s when you see Josh giddy play at his best and that’s when you see when if you play him along with thunder that the Thunder get to play better as

Well and let’s not put the cart before the horse here there is a much larger sample size this season and only looking at this season a much larger sample size of bad basketball from Josh giddy versus good basketball so he’s got to continue to build on this but the reason I say go

With the stats even though they were fine stats if he continues to make quick decisions I think he’ll continue to have the success he had today it’s when you get into the indecisiveness it’s when you get into the ball stopping that is what really just grinds out the Thunder

Offense to a screeching hole and makes Josh giddy unplayable and part of what made Josh giddy you know more suited to play in this game was also his engagement level defensively because it’s one thing to just be a bad Defender but there there are times this

Year where Josh Kitty was not even a hideable Defender because of his lack of Engagement and lack of just effort defensively this was a much better game in that category and is it’s what made Josh kidy a hideable Defender and and a guy you could keep on the

Floor again Josh KY did not play at this point of attack Elite level defensively but he did play at a playable level defensively I don’t know what’s going to take to click that he’s got to do that night in and Night Out same thing with being decisive and having quick

Reactions but you got to point out when it happens and hopefully for his sake you know the 21y old guard can can string together games like this and he’ll have another chance to come back and do it again you against the against the New York Knicks you know in less

Than 24 hours Kish Williams cannot say enough about guinea Hustle the way he just injects life into the team into the crowd into the game three-pointer into the Wolves timeout to put OKC up nine wrestles The Ball away from cat for a jump ball and there was a

Little bit of chippiness there on the jump ball just as there was a lot of chipp last year can he hustle against Minnesota he defended and switched on to ant at times Walling him off on drives while also being a really good defender of cat and defending down low well when

The Thunder wanted to go small which just highlights his highlevel dare I say Elite level switch ability and when after the game I asked Shay I asked JB I asked dor about Kenny hustle and the words were all very you know similar and all meant the same thing he’s a dog he’s a

Nasty Defender switchable Defender energy hustle that’s what encapsulates Kish Williams and that is something the Thunder desperately need like kenri Williams is the enforcer and the enforcer is not some goon that you see in hockey in bad hockey movies that just goes out there and beats up the other

Team but it’s a guy who plays the game the right way who does the Dirty Work and who can push around an opponent if you need them to if you take ker TS out of the equation which the Thunder had to do to start the year due to injury due to the backs

Spasms there are a totally different team mentality wise intensity wise and effort wise when you plop him back in you see it to a 180 in a positive direction like I I I think that while his box score will not be ey popping probably ever you know it’s six points

It’s three boards two assists a steal two for three from three now shooting 50% from three on the year while his box score will never be just this Gody these Gody numbers the the importance of kenri Williams can never be understated same with I’d sayah Joe like

Isah Joe two for three from Beyond The Arc eight points but really good positionally defensively two assists two boards and he flies in for a putback that really ice this game which is like the third win in a row that you can trace back the dagger you can trace back

The moment the game turned for good to and Isaiah joob important rebound where he goes and high points the ball and just out efforts the other team happening against Denver there’s a big moment like that in a crucial part of the game against LA and now tonight

Me just got minutes and so so part of the minutes was because that uh up until the end of shooter around the Thunder didn’t know if Josh giddy was gonna play if Jay duub was gonna play so you take those two guys out the Thunder desperately need playmaking they

Desperately need need need someone who can run the offense so you had to operate for the last few days and for today for the majority of today that like me was going to be forced to play and so once you operate that way and you change the routines you change the

Rhythms uh you know again me usually pregame around four o’clock goes through a very intense workout a more intense workout than usual because there’s a good chance that that you know to this point in the year get playing so like you got to get your work in even on game

Days and there was no such workout today for meic because because the rotation changed and the and the kind of you know the The rhythms of the day changed from me so whenever you change that routine you’ve got to then let it ride even though Josh and JB ended up being able

To play so that that’s kind of a peak inside of why the thunder played meich also you know the Thunder have a very tough stretch coming up second night of back toback tonight uh playing you know Friday into Sunday and then January hits and January is a back to

Back here a backto back there three games and four nights over here ton of road games ton of trotus games travel and playing tough opponents so January is going to be tough and you’re going to have to play meic and other players a lot more you know whenever that hits

Like the Thunder have been incredibly healthy like today today they literally were fully healthy and they had to make healthy scratches of of three players to get down to the 15 active player role which was poku and guon and Lindy so you know mea had to stay ready

Had to get ready and then had to go perform even though you know get and and JB did play the the only minutes where I didn’t like me on the floor was whenever he was out there with Josh Giddy and like that’s that’s something that that he can control necessarily because like

He’s not the coach of like the sudden rotations and I think that that was more so uh out of an awkwardness of a dead ball scenario versus like a planned lineup that they wanted to run and run out there but obviously you have me and giddy together they cannot play together

Uh that just is two bad Defenders versus three you know no matter who no matter the three you put around them they’re not going to be compatible defensively but other than that I I thought that he had Elite level passing he had a Wht pass that was beautiful to case in in

The dunker spot very nice pass very nice skip pass as well for an assist ends up with four assists and being a plus seven with three fouls a turnover two boards the shooting was not great a lot of the shooting um happened in the fourth quarter and it still was not great even

Though it was in garbage time but still uh I don’t think that it’s there’s ever been a question of if Mees can play and again four of those misses over four came in the fourth quarter for the 1 for seven total I I I don’t think that the

Question was ever if omis could play offensively but it’s it’s finding a role for him defensively that will be key but I think that as the season goes on and you saw him you know play in the middle of the Zone today which was an interesting

Wrinkle to play him in the middle of the Zone uh I I think as the season goes on he’ll find spots that he can play uh and matchups that he can play against I think that you could use him uh on defense similar to the way they use

Praton we like bratans is an awful Defender but sometimes you want him in the game for shooting so you you try to find the spots where the other team has a stationary Corner three-point shooter and all that that person is going to do is sit in the corner and wait for the

Ball anyone can defend that with a little bit of effort and Braton gives a lot of effort so you love that opportunity if you’re the Thunder whenever teams play guys like that you can play Berton it’s finding what clicks like that for meic to get him on the

Floor that will be the hurdle uh and also just him overall adjusting to the NBA and adjusting to uh the pace and the space in the NBA and and defending more in an island versus defending in a team concept but I still believe that with what we know now watching him work out

Watching him play you know talking with players and coaches about him I Still Believe by Year’s End he will be a much larger fixture of this rotation than he is right now but you know again offensively I think that he proved he can play uh defensively he still has to

Figure it out and and I think that it’ll just take time and Reps and film sessions and things like that Aon Wiggins five boards in 13 minutes went a long way in this game for Wiggins he deserves a shout out but overall it’s a maker Miss league and the thunder hit a

Ton of their shots 60% from the floor 46% from three 81% at the charity stripe you are not going to lose very many games playing that way and Minnesota they they hit really well from three 44% but just 46% from the floor which is surprising of course because they have

Cat and Rudy and ant gets to the rim and they still inside the arc you know you you know overall they shot 46% from the floor 81% from the Char strike for them the Thunder were minus three in Second Chance points but they won fast break

Points 11 to three uh the Thunder one points in the paint 58 to 44 the Thunder had 10 less turnovers than Minnesota but Minnesota was a plus 10 on the glass and the Thunder did a really good job of playing the waves of this game and weathering storms and

Controlling the game just from really wire to wire you know of course there were two late changes in a couple ties but still you really in control of this game it never there was never a oh no moment for the Thunder and they did really good job of of battling it out

And they have a chance to defend that again against New York tonight so we’ll be back following this contest against New York uh on tomorrow’s show but Today’s Show is very fun leave your thoughts on this game Down Below on YouTube or on Twitter at Ryland Styles

Also on threads rinor Styles and until tomorrow be good and be good to

The Oklahoma City Thunder earned a STATEMENT WIN over the Minnesota Timberwolves, proving the OKC Thunder can PLAY WITH ANYONE IN THE NBA. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an MVP Caliber player, and there is nothing even the league’s best defense can do to stop him. Chet Holmgren makes the adjustment each time he gets his second chance. Jalen Williams is COMFORTABLE leading the show. Josh Giddey’s best game of the season? Are Vasilije Micic’s minutes going to grow? Kenrich Williams brings that DAWG to the Bricktown boys. Aaron Wiggins hauls in big rebounds. LU DORT COULD NOT MISS! Isaiah Joe makes winning plays.

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