OKC Thunder prove to be legit in tough stretch with Big 3

OKC Thunder prove to be legit in tough stretch with Big 3

The Oklahoma City Thunder got an impressive win against New York the OKC big three seems to be legit and they have the depth to pull it off we’ll talk about that in more on today’s show 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 lock down Thunder podcast on the lockdown podcast Network your team every day I am your host media member editorinchief over at thunderus intentions. Ryland Styles follow me on Twitter Ryland Styles follow the show on

Twitter at L thunderpod email the show thunderpod gmail.com on today’s show brought to you by PR picks we’re diving into a very impressive win over New York Oklahoma City has a big three what to look forward to tonight in Denver and how the Thunder have managed to really

Break through in the most difficult part of their schedule so this game against New York Mitchell Robinson of course out for the year but beyond that the Knicks just didn’t have Jero Sims jacobe toppen and Charlie Brown Jr the Thunder were fully healthy this was the night of a

Back toback now it was a home home back to back and the Thunder got to wrap things up a bit early against Minnesota the night before but still a back to back against a really tough New York team uh who had the rest Advantage but in the midst of their toughest five-game

Stretch yet the Thunder were able to pull off a win and of course you know the energy fluctuated a little bit but ultimately the Thunder had a lot of gas left in the tank which is what you would expect from the youngest team in basketball but

You look at this and really see the basketball maturity that the Thunder have we talk a lot about their lack of experience we talk a lot about their ages and and how young they are rookie second-year guys are are really being relied on here and and not even guys who

Are in the prime of their careers yet but at the end of the day the Thunder have shown great basketball maturity to be able to to control games and close games so in a game in which you’re on the second night of a backto back versus

A good defensive team and they have the rest advantage and at times you know admittedly the Thunder energy levels were down they still were able to do enough to only have three lead changes all game most of which happened in short order at the beginning of the first quarter and

Only two times was this game tied again again mostly happening at the beginning of the game the Thunder were still able to grow a 17-point lead while New York never led by more than two points to be able to control games like that and you know keep your opponent at

An arms distance and be able to snap back into playing with high energy and into playing your style of basketball is the most impressive thing you can do it’s what separates good teams from Bad teams it’s what separates Great teams from good teams is that basketball maturity

Level in this game with all of that context we just gave the Thunder committed four turnovers all game four in a 48 minute game the Thunder gave the ball away four times and so even as New York dominates the glass right and and they were just

Feasting on the glass to the tune of a 40 to 27 margin even as that’s the case the Thunder outshot New York 90 attempts to 82 which is Thoroughly impressive whenever you get beat by by 20 rebounds but the difference is not letting go of the ball and that’s how you counteract some

Things that you just can’t control look New York is a bigger team and is a better rebounding team than Oklahoma City it’s hard to control that whenever you’re Oklahoma City but what you can control is once you get the ball not to give it away and to force turnovers and

That’s how you counteract that deficiency on the glass and as New York wins that rebounding battle the second chance points were 12 to six the Thunder were plus 12 in the paint plus 10 on fast breaks Oklahoma City was and on the second night of a back toback the Thunder shot 54

4377 New York shot well too 50 4180 but to still have the legs and the juice to be able to make over half your shots and shoot 43% from three is wildly impressive you know Brunson played well 24 points Randle played well 25 points U quickly killed it Off the Bench but

Ultimately Oklahoma City was able to get a blowout win the Thunder had two 30o scores and in this stretch of games have shown that they are legitimately good basketball team and then the biggest reason why that they’ve shown that is their ability to deliver the kill shot in the fourth

Quarter even earlier this season that fourth quarter was a danger zone SGA starts on the bench and it’s the perfect time for the opponent to Counter Strike offense wains scoring lows and all of the sudden the lead either evaporates or the opponent’s lead grows even further away

And you’ve got to pull off some heroic into the fourth quarter and of course that was the same verse as last year where last year was even worse to start the fourth quarter but as this season has gone on and as these players have gotten more reps have gotten more comfortable and

Have defined their roles you’ve seen the beginning of the fourth quarter in the toughest stretch of the season so far for Oklahoma City you’ve seen that beginning of the fourth quarter turn on its head and be an advantage for Oklahoma City where not only can you maintain leads but you can build on

Leads and sgaa returns to a seven-point cushion and your MVP caliber player can just simply come in and close out the game and what’s been so exciting to see about this stretch is along with SGA Jaylen Williams has been closing out the games he’s been hitting the big shots he’s been

Splashing in the daggers where the other team calls a timeout and just waves the White Flag the Thunder have three players who you can trust to go get a bucket who you can trust to get to their spots who if they’re on the court you feel like you can score

Score and a credit to Mark is that there is hardly ever a moment where there’s only one of them on the court there’s typically always two of them on the court of the three and that’s what helps elongate this depth elongate this game for Oklahoma City and allows them

To knock off these tough opponents even on the second night of a back toback so coming into this five-game stretch this was the toughest five game stretch of the year for Oklahoma City it was the Clippers Lakers wolves Nicks nuggets we are about to head into the

Last game of this five game stretch watching this team and evaluating this team and the worst that they can do is three and two and the best that they can do is four- one and a 4- one in which that one loss came when the Lakers just could not

Miss a shot and the Thunder could not hit water out of a boat in the middle of the ocean and they still we competitive we’ve been pushing and pushing and pushing the can down the road when evaluating this team waiting for the other shoe to drop and it’s not going

To this Thunder team is legit this Thunder team can compete with anyone and this Thunder team has the basketball maturity to win big games on the road win big games at home and really surprise and shock the NBA world coming up let’s talk SGA let’s talk jdub’s career high Chad holgren and

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Apply we’re back on the lockdown ther podcast on the lockdown podcast Network 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 what a time it is for Thunder fans you can also check out lockdown

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Game but how can you look at this Thunder team and not get excited two 30o scores both of them have 36 points SGA had 30 points through three quarters eight assists seven rebounds two steals two blocks a turnover eight for n at the line two for five from

Deep you know sgaa is able to score 36 points on 56% shooting and that wasn’t the best line because job had 36 points on 76% shooting from the floor this is a wildly efficient basketball team who plays the game together you’ve seen it even if you’ve only watched the NBA through the prism

Of the Thunder since they’ve been here you’ve seen the opposite side of that Spectrum where you have a good collection of talent you have a good collection of players but they don’t play with any sort of flow they don’t play with any sort of connectivity or

Offense they just pass the ball one to another possession by possession and just see what happens just see if each other can bail each other out and play your turn my turn basketball but instead you’ve got this amazing collection of talent that works together on all cylinders they all end

Up still getting these Gody numbers you know two 36 point scores but it’s done so much more efficiently and it allows you to really throttle out the opponent but SGA you know 36 points eight assists seven boards two steals two blocks a plus 12 in this one getting it done on both

Ends you one of the biggest keys for SGA is his creativity as a passer he sees the floor so well that he can see the way the defense is align and where the help’s coming from and in the midst of a spin move just pop the ball out to the

Right player right where they need it to get the shot off quickly before the defense can adjust he can get it done with these jump passes in the air he can get it done out of post-ups he can pass the basketball at a high clip with his Elite scoring to

Where it just continues to add to this throw your hands up how do you defend him he hit a couple step pack threes in this one if those ever go down consistently then you’re talking about the Undisputed best scorer in the sport because of how efficient he

Is and the amount of points he can just rack up in a hurry I I think that he uses his length better than any player in the ba to Shield off Defenders and to outstretch that arm to the rim for an easy bucket to where you just can’t you just can’t

Touch the it’s like it’s like whenever uh you know you have a a little kid trying to take the ball away from you you know and you’re out there playing with your cousin or your son or something and you just hold the ball up and they just they jump and jump try as

They might they can’t get the ball and that’s what he’s able to do with the link that he has when going to the rim he is just so impressive scoring through traffic and creative on the Fly the the adive ability of him to score was highlighted by this one playay

In transition where he gets the rebound he’s racing down the floor and then all of a sudden he just stops and Pops a jumper at the free throw line over jayen Brunson Jaylen Brunson a lot of talk about Brunson over the last week and his height and you know what

What what he can be as a number one option Jaylen Brunson has zero chance to contest an SGA jumper SGA can just shoot over the top of him every single time and so to not try to plow through Brunson at the at the rim but instead

Just stop all momentum on a dime and take that jumper was such a Savvy move and such a clean look that it’s it’s just really impressive and he just continues to to make you wonder how you stop him his pump fakes work because of that because of his ad lib ability to

Score the pump fix just absolutely full Defender because you have to believe him that he’s about to shoot because he will shoot from anywhere on the court inside the ark no matter what his balance is like no matter what his setup move was you have to believe that he’ll pull up

That shot and you have to be ready to contest it and that’s how you get the defenses out of position and one of the most underrated aspects of his game is the lack of space he needs because we always talk about the space he creates but that’s almost like a luxury for

SGA you could go back and watch his jumpers this year the amount of times that he has zero Landing space and literally falls to the floor after letting go of the shot but yet somehow it is a perfect switch somehow he just Nails it is just

Unbelievable and you go from a guy like SGA doing that and you’re thinking you’ve got to gear up and just stop SGA at all cost but then you look over and Jay dub scores the first seven points of this game and carried the load with SGA

Off the floor a career night for Jay dub who’s on an absolute heater shooting the basketball he shot 76% from the floor five for five shooting from three five for seven at the free throw line 36 points three assists one steal block and there’s so many ways to go

About this with with J but I think that the most important part is how he’s so far improved I I think that when you look at job it’s easy to overlook his improvements a little bit you know not not dramatically but just Overlook them a little bit because of you know how

Great chat hren has been and and of course Chet hren the new item on the docket is going to steal a lot of the attention but job while adding you know tremendous strength like like he he has truly transformed himself in the strength Department while doing that

Typically you know that can hurt a guy shot at least for the next year that can hurt a guy shot as they learn to readjust you know typically the idea the traditional wisdom has been you add bulk you lose some on your jumper that’s not been the case for JB

In fact not even close with that added strength he’s a plus s% uh percentage points better from Beyond The Arc shooting 42% from Beyond The Arc with the added strength to improve at the rim and get more calls and get more free throws which are just easy points he has truly transformed his

Scoring portfolio to be able to do just this where he is carrying the load for the Thunder with SJ off the court maintaining leads growing leads and and delivering knockout blows at the end of games even with Shay on the court and it presents this just dilemma for other

Teams because they’ve finally gotten to the point we talked about all preseason long All Summer Long of pick your poison go ahead and load up to go defend SGA he’ll just swing it to Jay go ahead and react to J he’ll just swing it to chat and you’re never going

To be a step ahead of this Thunder team you’re never going to be able to limit everyone the way you you stop this thunder offense is just hoping that the Thunder offense stops themselves because when they share the ball what they did against New York and when they are knocking down

Their open looks that they’re going to create every single night they are really tough to beat you have to bring your best game your best shot every single time and it still might not be good enough the sky is the absolute limit for this Thunder

Team and for a fan base who has been just tremendously spoiled this is yet another chapter in that and while it’s hard to imagine that these three players become better than what what Harden and Westbrook and Durant were able to accomplish individually when you look at them as a

Team you could see these three players accomplishing more than what those three guys did as a unit and that the fact that that’s even a conversation to be had is unbelievably lucky for Oklahoma City because you think about how far those teams got when they were healthy

You you know of course they had years where you know Durant was hurt had years where Westbrook of course with Patrick Beverly was hurt and they had years where Ibaka was hurt you when they were healthy though each year that they were healthy they got to the wests finals

They got to uh you know they got really really close and this team can still accomplish more than that if everything goes right the way that it’s trended so far because of players like Jay because of players like Chad to add to an MVP level player the Thunder arguably have three

Guys who they get to their spot and they can knock it down independent of what the defense is doing and that tough shot making from from jdub with three Defenders around him that’s the difference that’s what you need when when a game bogs down in the postseason it’s a halfcourt game and

You’re and you’ve slowed down into the mud you need players who can just go hit difficult shots and the Thunder arguably already have three of those guys but I just cannot get over how impressive this Thunder team has been and you know a running joke has

Been from jdub that uh he has not taken heat checks and while that is a funny joke on a serious note that is such a positive trait that that even in the midst of a career high night where you’re scoring 36 points right and you can bind it with

The night before where he goes four for four from three he goes five for five from three in this game and and you have to be feeling such in the zone when those things happen but to still possession in and possession out let the game come to you not only helps your

Individual efficiency but helps the team overall and that is again a sign of despite being a second-year player despite not not playing in in in in massive games quite yet that’s still a high high high level of basketball maturity and a level you have to reach in order to have

Success and so I thought that was great from jayd we’ll talk chat homr will talk this depth as well all coming up on today’s lockdown Thunder podcast on today’s show want to tell you right now put your friends over at prize picks prize picks is great what I love

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Chad hren 22 points five boards an assists four blocks 64% from the floor he he was awesome in this game he absolutely found the mismatch he loved attacking Isaiah hardenstein he got the ball to top of the key multiple times and just walked isaah hardenstein right

To the rim used a couple post fakes and was able to just score right through hartenstein he was also showing off some some kind of physicality you got this rebound into a power dribble right through Julius randle’s body at the rim and Chad hren has completely mastered

That spin move there was a great play where where treyman fed Chad hren quickly in transition at at the slot and Chad just immediately takes off for the paint and he had to spin through the paint and he’s off balance at The Rim but he has such great body control to

Still be able to finish it and the pump fakes are still working to the Imp degree he had the ball swung to him top of the key pulls off a pump fake Gibson goes flying by and now Chet’s able to just take one dribble in free throw line

Jumper syn the wide open mid-range shot and a game where chat had four blocks five boards and 22 points he’s third on the billing that’s how impressive this center team is Kenny hustle played really really really good defense on Julius Randle knocked down a three he had a Savvy fast break where he

Where he was able to run the break and wait till the very last second he was literally in the restricted circle before he passed it off to case Wallace because that forced the defense to commit to Kenny hustle and generates a wide open layup for case Wallace two

Steals and a rebound for him really good off the off the uh off the the bench Lou Dort was really good defensiv lead tonight one for four from three cooled off a little bit from three but overall when you look at this stretch of games

If this is how L dor can shoot where like One for four is his off night but for the majority of this stretch he’s been he’s been just lighting it up from distance that changes the high-end outcome for Oklahoma City in a big way plus 13 in this game two assists two

Rebounds as well Isaiah Joe Off the Bench was a plus three Wiggins Off the Bench was a plus seven Joe went two for four from three two rebounds as well on his way to eight points Wiggins right place right time I really loved him floating to the dunker spot and using

Him there in that dunker spot Five Points two assist for him uh and then Josh giddy I think really helped the Thunder off the you know on the glass six rebounds two assists seven points only on One Missed shot two blocks this has been a good stretch of games from

Giddy you know really been about three good games from him taking on Denver though that is a tough match up for Josh giddy I’m so fascinated to to see kind of how he operates tonight against Denver no Aaron Gordon though should help alleviate some of that pressure and

Alleviate some of that uh difficulty but still this is a really good Denver team that has given him fits uh really throughout his career but especially this season you saw it in their last game Trey man got minutes to start the second quarter I thought Trey man did a

Much better job of communicating on both ends especially kind of communicating defensively uh and I thought they understood positioning better and spacing better um than he has in his previous reps but then it was kind of the same song and dance for for Trey man different

Verse same as the first you know we’ve been talking about Trey Man All Summer Long all preseason long of you know if you paused Trey man’s clips and you just paused them right when he released the ball it would be a million dooll move and you would think he’s one of the most

Prolific scores in the NBA but then you hit play and for some reason the ball doesn’t go in and he he had that that kind of same thing happen to him again in this one where Trey man was just this really really really good scorer in the sense of space Creator and

And taking really quality shots but for some reason they just did not fall and eventually they’re gonna have to fall for Trey man MVP this game is going to be jdub of course jdub was awesome in this game along with of course SGA so Denver’s up next on the road Jay will is

Questionable he left the game early with a hip injury uh us and K Johnson are both with the League Ste they play tonight uh in Oklahoma City against Maine and then for the Nuggets it’s it’s interesting to see that you know Jackson Reggie Jackson is probable mpj is questionable so there’s a there’s

Potentially no mpj and no Aaron Gordon in this one which would be a huge swing for OKC you know the Nuggets you don’t need me to tell you they’re a good team they they’re the Champions but they have not lost since the Thunder beat them in

Denver they have not lost a game this is a battle of two top West teams and and I don’t know that Thunder are going to change anything about the way that they play defense but I would be curious to see the Thunder not crash as hard on jic and

Defend him one onone and I know that defending yic one-on-one would present some easy buckets for joic but when you crash on him and you show him so much attention he can just so easily pick you apart and with with his passes find the open man and get some wide open

Shots you know forcing joic to be the top score for Denver and then the score for Denver might be the best drought again this is a this is a pick your poison type of thing and it’s there’s no winning there’s no uh right answer so to

Say because you are just kind of saying hey yic go score all you want to in a way but trusting Chad to go get a couple blocks on yic trusting the fact that a couple shots won’t Rim in for joic while limiting everyone else could be the best option

When you defend Denver now that would that would be a stark difference from how the Thunder typically play defense you know of their heavy crashing to kind of compensate for their size and using their athletic ability to fly out the contest on the perimeter but I think against yogic specifically this could be

An interesting option so so I’m always going to be fascinated to see what they what they come up with against nioka one of the best players in the world you know multip multiple time MVP Finals MVP all that good stuff but it’ll be fun and we’re going to recap it all right here

On the lockdown th podcast right after the game on YouTube and on all other podcasting platforms make sure you follow along on Twitter X threads rinor Styles and until tonight be good and be good to one

The OKC Thunder have proven to be special with their Big 3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams each score 36 points; Chet Holmgren shows his unbelievable ceiling. The Oklahoma City Thunder have the basketball maturity to be a really good team. SGA is one of the best scorers in the league and a defensive disrupter. Kenrich Williams, Aaron Wiggins, and Isaiah Joe give Mark Daigneault so much help off the bench. Josh Giddey is on a good stretch, but Denver is a tough matchup. How should the Bricktown boys defend Nikola Jokic? Surviving this five-game stretch is impressive for Oklahoma City.

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