What are the biggest advantages for the OKC Thunder in the NBA Playoffs? With Andrew Schlecht

What are the biggest advantages for the OKC Thunder in the NBA Playoffs? With Andrew Schlecht

On today’s locked on Thunder podcast what is the Thunder’s ceiling in the NBA postseason what are some key advantages that they have had once been the biggest surprise so far this season 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 lockd on Thunder podcast on the lockon podcast Network your team every day I am your host media member and inside the thunder.com beatwriter Ryland Styles follow me on Twitter Ryland Styles follow the show on Twitter at L thunderpod on today’s show we’re joined

By Andrew Schleck at Andrew kleck on Twitter to discuss all of the great things that the Thunder of done this season some key advantages that they have in the rest of this regular season and postseason plus some of the biggest surprises scream o Andrew what’s going

On what’s up thanks for having me on the locked on Thunder podcast it’s a pleasure to have you on the Pod it’s been a lot of fun of course uh talking Thunder basketball with you but this season especially has been a lot of fun yeah so when you look at this team let’s

Zero in on just this team first what do you think that this team can accomplish this year for the next 15 games and in the postseason yeah I mean if you take a look at their statistical profile they’re they’re a team that should be competing for the Western Conference

Finals I mean that’s that’s what the stats say however there’s one stat that says that’s not probably in the cards and that’s just their age you know and so it’s this kind of battle between what like we’ve seen on the court this year they’ve been I mean they’re at the top

Of the West right now sitting at number one with teams like Denver and the Clippers and Minnesota the Pelicans and the Mavs and the Suns and the Warriors and the Lakers I mean these are really really good teams and the Thunder have been better than all of them they have

The best point differential in the Western Conference they have I believe the second best player arguably the best player in the Western Conference on their team they’re they don’t play really any like bad players you know like everybody they play I think you feel pretty comfortable

With them playing them you know a lot of these teams struggle with depth the Thunder don’t struggle with depth you know people talk about the size but the way the Thunder want to play you can’t exactly have some lumbering big out there even like a rim running big out

There like you need to have guys like Chad and Jay will out there to help run this thing for you so I don’t really buy into that as much but I I think this is a team that could do anything from go out in round one to a team that’s a bad

Matchup for them or get all the way to the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets you know I think you can I think it’s reasonable to think any of those things that’s why I think that this team is so you know volatile in that way because coming into the season

I like was really big on needing to kind of go through some things with this core of you getting some Battle Scars and everything but then as the seasons transpired even though I think that this is going to be you know the Best Western Conference that we’ve seen the best

Conference period that we’ve seen in quite some time one through 10 this Thunder team has just answered the call a lot you know in the sense of maturity and adversity that you don’t really believe that next month they’re going to forget how to play basketball they’re

Going to forget how to you know weather the storm so to say they’ve handled big runs on the road they’ve handled all those playoff you know things and I think that the NBA’s helped them a little bit with the way that they’re calling games now which is like very

Physically and very much how playoff games are called so those two things allow me to be more confident in the Thunder next month in the postseason but at the end of the day I think that like every year it’ll really come down to to matchups and like that’ll be a big deal

In deciding who goes far in the in the playoffs especially with how good these teams are is there any matchup that stands out to you that is both one that stands out to you in a good way and a bad way for the Thunder yeah I think in a good way I I

Think Sacramento would be one that I mean we’re really kind of looking at whether the Thunder Wind up one or two the the Nuggets schedule is just really easy down the stretch so I kind of think the nuggets are going to be the number one seed the

Thunder going to be the number two seed because the Thunder have there’s there’s some weeks that get kind of difficult for them uh let’s see so this this next week is is this week is great Utah Toronto only two games the guys get to enjoy the Drake

Concert they get to just live it up next week Milwaukee Pelicans Rockets who are playing well right now Phoenix I mean that’s that’s really tough and then the week after Nicks Sixers Celtics Indie I mean that’s that’s really tough that’s a tough two weeks and a lot of games in two weeks

So I I think they’ll end up at number two it’s still not crazy to think they could be number three however the Nuggets do play the Timberwolves three times in the next you know few weeks so I still think they’ll end up number two and so we’re looking at likely the

Winner of 78 right now it’s Dallas Dallas Phoenix Sacramento is right there there it’s going to be probably one of those three teams and if you’re the Thunder I think Sacramento is probably the one that you would want the most um just because they’ve struggled in the

Playoffs I think the Thunder have a lineup that they haven’t used a ton this season that they would use a lot in that series that I think would kind of you know throw a wrench into the way that the Kings want to play and just put Jay

Will in place of Josh Giddy and you just have Jay will kind of stand right there with sabonis and kind of muscle him and then it allows CAD to kind of roam a little bit and then offensively they can still kind of play the way they want to

Play so I think that would probably be the favorable matchup I I think they would beat any of those teams honestly but I think Dallas would probably give them the most trouble because they have these like rebounding bigs that can they can offensive rebound you to death Luca and

Kyrie are really really good now that said like I I think the Thunder would beat any of those teams one the the defense isn’t great um also the Thunder have the best clutch offense in the NBA like period so I I think they would be good however the maps have the second best

Clutch offense in the NBA and so I would kind of want to just if if I could pick if I could like order those three I would probably have Sacramento Phoenix and then Dallas in that order Phoenix obviously is scary too with Durant and Booker but I mean it’s not

Like Dallas’s defense has been good it’s been really really bad but I believe a little bit more in The Supporting Cast of Dallas than I do in The Supporting Cast of Phoenix yeah I think that for the Thunder the only two teams I think that will be just incredibly tough is

Number one the Lakers because what we’ve seen so far you’re going to be playing LeBron and AD in the playoffs plus they are big enough and physical enough to muddy up the waters in the mid-range and take away some three-point shots as well so it really complicates the offense in

That way and then with Dallas I we’ve seen Luca his whole career like he’s gonna take two games by himself like regardless of what anyone else does on the floor so if he takes two of four games then you have Kyrie then you’re going to have a game where like their

Role players are just hitting at a high clip that’s going to be another game now you’re fighting an uphill battle pretty quickly if everything goes right for Dallas so that would be a game where I think that the Thunder would win both those series but this series would be

Really really hard in the first round to to avoid and to get passed but I do like Sacramento I think that the Thunder can see Sacramento fall into that playing tournament it end up working out for them especially because they do have that jwell chat lineup that I really

Really like now if they do see Shay and the Thunder fall to the two seed what does that do for Shay’s MVP odds where where is he at for you in terms of the MVP ladder I think he’s right there with with yic and I honestly think it’s going

To be whoever wins the West is going to win the MVP so I think it crushes it I think it’s over if the Nuggets end up at the number one seed everybody kind of gives yic a leg up anyways and I think if the Thunder ended

Up at the one seed I think people would call that into question but I think as long as the Nuggets finish ahead people are just ready to give it PE the media is ready to give it to yic right now anyways but I think especially if they’re ahead of

The Thunder I think that they’ll get it it’s also going to be I mean here’s the thing Shay has an opportunity ahead of him the nuggets have this easy schedule the record will look good but there may not be like the Marquee games for them you know these

Timberwolves games may not be the Marquee games that they were supposed to be without towns there now the Thunder I mean he has Shay has a real chance to have some Marquee games ahead of him you know against Milwaukee against the Pelicans which is going to be tough they play Phoenix and

OKC next Friday that’s a tough one he has some I mean he could if they string together some really good wins he has a chance to win this MVP I mean Russell Westbrook in 2017 won the MVP in the last two weeks of the Season know at this if we were at this

Point in 2017 I don’t think that we would have I don’t I think we would be saying James Harden’s going to win the MVP you just we just don’t know yet and so I think if Denver did finish ahead of them I I think they’re gonna I think yic

Would get it but Shay has the opportunity to go get it he’s got to have some spectacular games he’s probably gonna have to have a 50-point game you know between now and then he’s gonna have to grab the national attention you know maybe two or three

Times you know and and maybe he wants to do that maybe he does I think he’s going to have more than one opportunity to win an MVP I don’t think like this is it for him I think this is kind of the beginning of like a run where he’s going

To be a guy who’s considered to be an MVP candidate but if he wants to win it the opportunity is is ahead of him but I I do think the media for whatever reason is ready to hand it to joic and Shay’s got to go take it and I

Think he could do it like I I believe Shay has been the second best player in the NBA all season and so I think he could jump up and it’s not the margin isn’t isn’t that wide so I think I think he has the opportunity but I I think

Jokic with just the conversations that are being had right now I think joic is the the favorite but I I hope that Shay goes and takes it because I think he he has the opportunity to yeah I think that for Shay like he should be in the

Conversation he should be getting a ton of votes and like a ton of support but it’s going to come down to like you said who’s going to be first in the west because if Shay comes out in this difficult stretch that we just talked about and just dominates Milwaukee twice

Beats Boston again beats the Pelicans like if he goes out and has these great games against these great teams that’s going to naturally boost him up and any sort of leg up is going to get him that MVP award because it’s such a competitive race right now and if if he

Finishes first in the west there’s just no way I don’t think that you can give it to anyone else because even despite the fact that like joic is a better player even never given away MVPs like that we’ve never given it to just the best player in general it’s been more

About the season and more about like this specific year and if Shay can manage these next couple weeks get the Thunder number one I don’t think that there’s an argument against his MVP case at that point yeah I mean if yeah if it were the

Case it would just give it to the best player I mean LeBron would have won like 10 MVPs and he did not do that he did not Michael Jordan didn’t do that it’s just like it’s just not something we have ever done uh voting for MVP but

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Thunder we’ve talked a little bit about their ceiling it’s kind of up and down but let’s say that they reach their ceiling of like they go on this Western Conference Finals run and then from there anything can happen in a seven game series at that point what will be

The reason why what what are some of their key advantages for this team this year I think it’s their versatility and scoring for the most part and also just their three-point shooting they’ve been a really good three-point shooting Team all season Shay obviously can get downhill the the amount of guys that can

Get downhill and create open shots is kind of like the way this team was built and having Chad having a spacing five is is also a huge reason why one you have one of the best scores and the most efficient scores in the league in shis Alexander and that really

Helps like the engine of your offense is outrageously efficient like he is great then you have like this clone of him and Jay duub who does almost the same stuff he gets downhill he gets to the hoop scores efficiently around the rim scores in the mid-range is a better three-point

Shooter needs to take more threes I’m interested to see if he can get that number up to like five or six you know at some point in his career rather than three but he’s shooting almost 45% from three this season you know those guys and then everybody is complimenting really well especially

Lud Dort lud D’s had a great season shooting 41% from three great defense he’s kind of like the three and D guy that you’ve always wanted K Wallace has played really well to shooting almost the same percentage that L Dort is Isaiah Joe coming off the bench Gordon

Hayward has been hit or miss at times but I feel like he is slowly learning how to be a role player uh everybody loves Aaron Wick everybody loves kenri Williams everybody loves Jaylen Williams I mean they just have guy after guy after guy that I think you trust and one

In the game and like really the only blemish is right this season is Josh giddy just because it hasn’t been a great fit um for him or for the team and they’re figuring some stuff out there’s been some lineups that have been good the starting lineup is still like a plus

Eight this season together so it’s not like they’ve been negative or have been bad but to me it’s just like the cohesion of the team the fact that they just have all this shooting and then the guys that can get downhill they have a lot of guys that are shooting above 40%

This season I mean it’s Isaiah Joe Dort Cas Wallace Lindy Waters doesn’t play a whole lot but every once in a while you you’ll get him in there for like a bomber lineup for 15 seconds JB Wiggins and Hayward are all shooting above 40% from three that’s probably the longest

List in Thunder history I mean it’s insane and then you have Chad who’s right there you have kenri who’s right there I mean they could have you know almost 10 guys that are shooting above 40% so it’s the shooting it’s the offense you know run by Shay and then

Jayb just kind of being the Shay clone that’s just like I don’t know what you do about it yeah I think that this th team like the advantages that they have like you mentioned is versatility and the fact that I think that despite everyone’s concern about size I think

That they can match you with how you want to play Because as we mentioned they have the J will chat lineup if you want to go super big no one’s going to have a better small ball formula than Oklahoma City and I think that we’ve seen this Thunder team even as you know

The game’s getting called differently now and more more physically now post All-Star break they’ve adapted to whatever you know the the the style has been this whole regular season if you want to bomb away threes they’re able to keep Pace from Beyond The Arc in games they’re able to muddy things up

Defensively if that’s the kind of tener of the game so their ability to adapt to styles of play and and make the in-game adjustments I think is huge and I think that part of that is in most series I think that you’re going to have the coaching matchup and then the coaching

Advantage in most series like I know that we got to see in the postseason that’s typically whenever we evaluate coaches but I think that Mark’s going to be one of the one of the better postseason coaches that this league has and so when you have that plus this good

Of a team and this young of a team uh with so many stars on it that can go get Buckets like Shay and jdub I think that that’s enough to kind of get you kind of over the edge so to say yeah yeah I’m I’m so curious to see how Mark handles

The postseason you know he’s never coached in the playoffs before as a head coach I’m so curious to see what it looks like because he’s pretty much stayed I mean he stayed steady as long as they’re healthy with the starting lineup once you get to the postseason

Those those are the kinds of things that can change depending on the team that you’re playing I think night and night out you don’t want to just change it willy-nilly but I think I think it’s possible that we see lineup changes in the playoffs they’ve they’ve been uh kind of lessening the M

Amount of minutes that Josh has been getting he gets about 19 to 22 is minutes per game and I think that’s almost to kind of like prepare him for what the postseason could look like and it’s also just to like get these other guys in rhythm with some of the

Starters and so I’m I’m very very curious to see how he handles it especially if they do play a team like Sacramento like we mentioned there’s like a very obvious lineup change to make because I don’t you know Chad’s not the guy to defend sabonis you know a lot

Of people like well Chad’s gonna get just bodied by sabonis I mean yeah he would if that’s a strategy that you use but if you use Jay will a lot in that series which I think you could if you go double bigs basically I I think

That that helps you a lot and like do you start that way I mean certainly I think you try to finish that way but do you start that way I think is a question that I have about Mark and what he does because we’ve seen like he was he’s part

Of Billy Donovan’s staff Billy Donovan did that a lot with the thunder in the postseason he changed up the starting lineup you know quite a bit depending on the matchup so I’m curious to see if he does the same yeah that’ll be very interesting to to to kind of balance out

One thing that I’ve been very encouraged by is that even last year on a on a less deep team uh with with frankly less uh less quality players than this year’s team has you know the Thunder were were not afraid to not close with Josh this

Year they’ve been very eager uh to to take Josh out even going back to that game against Dallas like he individually played well but in the start of the second half Dallas just began to blatantly ignore him to the point where you just could no longer play him even

Though individually he was playing good they didn’t let that kind of cloud their judgment they just took him out and really didn’t put him back in in that game down the stretch so like their willingness to close games without Josh and to play stretches you know long stretches without Josh has been

Encouraging where do you fall on the line of the starters don’t really matter because I think that for me in the regular season I do agree with that of like you know yes you obviously would prefer to start every game with with a blistering 13 to3 run but at the end of

The day it doesn’t really matter who is announced by the P address announcer at the start of games in in the 82 Game season but in the playoffs that can really change because you know if you start from behind you’re trying to claw your way back especially on the road

It’s a much different environment a much different kind of uphill climb like where do where do you balance that philosophy that we we’ll see if it translates to the postseason I think in the postseason everything matters I think it all matters I don’t think there’s like I I think that you

Have to create every Advantage possible in the postseason that you can’t afford to give away minutes and give away possessions that you think won’t that you think ultimately aren’t going to work for you and so I think you have to make changes where you see fit and I

Don’t think you make changes right away because I do think like there’s some versatility about the starting lineup that when it’s like really working and Josh is kind of more in the center of it rather than being a guy that’s like spotting up from three because if you put him on the perimeter

And it becomes like hey now it’s a make or miss Josh giddy you know proposition like please don’t do that please don’t do that set him make him a screener make him a passer make him somebody that’s in the dunker spot like he can do those

Things but don’t just like sit him on the perimeter and they and they’ve been really good about not necessarily giving you the opposing team a steady diet of just one thing I think we saw that a little bit more against Memphis but in the past you know few games before that

We didn’t see just a ton of just him just spotting up from three over and over and over again like he’s doing lots of different things and as long as he’s doing that excuse me I think that I think the Thunder will be fine but to

Me if if you see in game one the starting lineup is not working against team x i I think you have to do you have to create the advantage somewhere else whether that’s putting in Isaiah Joe putting in Cas Wallace putting in you know Jay will whoever it is I think you

Got to make the switch and we saw it in the the second half of that Clippers game in Oklahoma City a few weeks ago where they sat Josh at the beginning of the second half and then what’s funny is that a lot of people the way they

Remember it is wrong the Thunder didn’t take off necessarily at the beginning of that second half they took off in the middle of that third quarter when Josh giddy came back in and was like helping direct the second unit with like more Shooters around him like that’s when

They went on their really big run and so I’m not saying like remove Josh sit him don’t play him at all that’s not what I’m saying if you play him against second units if you play him with more shooting which the bench is just covered with shooting that might just be a better

Role for him and you might find something there and so I just wonder if that may be a better spot for him overall especially when it comes to the postseason and a place where he can have success and actually have the ball too so I’m I’m curious to see if if that’s what

They do but to answer your question in a very long waed way I think everything matters yeah everything matters I think you can summarize it with the fact that the Mavericks were able to use bobon minutes in the playoffs to steal possessions like stealing those possessions matter no matter how you do

It you want to steal possessions you want to steal minutes and so you don’t want to start out in a hole as much as uh you know they can they can kind of push aside the starting lineup in general I think that that works in the in the regular season does not work

Necessarily in the playoffs and it’s not fair to Josh to put him out there as just a corner shooting you know three-point shooter that’s just not going to put him in the best spot to succeed and we know that’s not how it’s going to work but there is I think one

Crucial question that ties into Josh skitty’s play that the Thunder have to answer come playoff time plus what are some of the biggest surprises for this Thunder team but first let’s talk about our good friends over at Nissan go there right now to nissanusa.com the shop

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Podcast Andrew thank you so much for joining us the first issue on the table for Segment number three is that how do you think the Thunder will manage a playoff style of basketball if it goes the traditional way where the game slows down it gets more into the half court

Which will oftentimes lead to maybe less fast break points maybe less just raw turnover numbers how do you think the Thunder team will react in that setting it’s going to be difficult for them I think that that is probably going that along with the uh unavoidable topic

Of rebounding is going are going to be reasons why if they do not you know make it to the second round or if they lose in round two I think you can all go ahead and circle those as the reasons why they don’t make it you know and they they’ve won game

Playing slower they’ve won games in almost every variety so I’m not saying that they couldn’t win those games but I do think that it it makes it a lot more difficult you see them like really like destroy teams whenever they can get out on the fast break and they can get

Steals and blocks and all these things um but I do think like the half court stuff makes it a little bit more difficult for them but they have it’s not like they’ve been some bad halfcourt offense this season they’ve been good in the half court this season they’re one

Of the better half court offenses in the NBA according to cleaning the glass um they have the number one half court offense so I don’t think that that’s something that people should fear because they do have guys that can create they also have the third best

Half court defense according to K L so like this is they have they have the tools to do it and they’ve been good but like you said like with the Lakers it’s more it’s not really a matter of like slow versus fast but it’s more like what can they take away

Anthony Davis is just really uniquely positioned to take away a lot of the things that Thunder want he’s uniquely positioned to take away the mid-range and the hoop at the same time which is what he’s done multiple times to the Thunder and if you take away both of

Those it now it comes down to are you g are they going to make their threes and I don’t I don’t know if that’s necessarily the place that you want to put the thunder in you want them to kind of get to their bread and butter and get comfortable shooting those mid-range

Shots getting all the way to the hoop getting fouled um but I do think like they’re they positioned to play any way you want them to I don’t think there’s just necessarily a style of Play It’s just is the Personnel on the other side to take

Away the things that they want to get to because I I do think a slower style is not something that they fear this is going to be like the most obvious statement but the Thunder are going to have to be crisp in the playoffs just like every other team because I think

That the Thunder can still play to their identity even if it’s not leading directly to Fast Break points because I think that for one in the half court which made them so good is that they’ve been able to get the second and third actions which put the defense on their

Heels uh and if you’re on your heels against this Thunder team they can make you pay because all of them are good Cutters all them are good play finishers and can reallyy if you’re on the case of Shay and JB’s hands can really just rise

Up and and use that crease to to get to their spots so offensively I’m not as worried about it unless there’s a specific match up like the Lakers but defensively I think that they can still have the same elements of what makes them successful defensively this year it

Just might not look the same so for example maybe you don’t get a ton of steals and thus not a ton of Fast Break points but with as long as they are and versatile and athletic as they are and especially whenever they switch everything if you can get two

Deflections in a possession even if the other team still gets a shot off it’s likely not going to be a good shot it’s likely going to be something that that is not uh what they want and is going to miss and you’re going to be able to get

Get it and go and the Thunder are also good at creating artificial transition where they push the pace out of a maid basket and then hit chat on a trailer uh for three so they can find the margins where they can make that up so usually

I’d be very cautious of a team with this much pace and this much you know Reliance on transition but with this ther team they they can almost recreate it artificially with those deflections with with pushing the pace out of out of made baskets that I think that they’ll

Be all right and they’ll be able to to combat it so both feeling confident about the center team in the playoffs to leave us here you know we both cover this team very intimately it’s it’s funny to go back and listen to every year the predictions you know I think

That we both were in agreeance probably about yeah you know this team could be like a home quarter Advantage team if everything went right and then in the end just hope that they can maybe make the top six and now they’re sitting here at number one what’s been the biggest

Surprise or or if you have two or three what’s been the biggest surprise is of this Thunder team oh man lots of surprises uh I think Lou D’s play has been surprising just that he has become one of the better role players in the NBA kind of quietly he’s one of the

People just don’t really talk about nationally at all but I think should get more praise because he has been their best defender and he’s been a really good you know release valve for them and has been pretty consistent he’s had a couple down weeks but for the most part it’s been

Really consistent this year as a guy that you can throw the ball to and he’s going to make threes especially going to make Corner threes um so that’s been surprising uh I guess just like the overall durability of Chad you know he’s played every single game this season

He’s played 6 seven games I don’t think that I would have predicted that to happen and he’s obviously been really good I I kind of expected him to be good but you know 17 eight and almost three assists with two and a half blocks I

Mean that’s pretty great I mean if he if that’s what he just was the rest of his career I think that he would have an awesome career I think he’s going to be a lot better than that uh Cas Wallace too just like having a steady role he’s

Averaged 20 minutes per night on this team he’s kind of been the SP starter I think he’s like started in like almost 10 games for them this season and they just use him a lot and Mark really likes him and that’s also been a surprise um those are probably like the

Like best big surprises I kind of expected JB to take a step up and he has I’ve expected Shay to be really good and he has um but yeah I mean those are like probably like the biggest like good surprises um yeah I I think those that

That’s it that’s what I got I’m I’m glad that that’s what you got I think that the L Tor one is is a really important one because I think that it’s so repeatable of it’s not as though this is just some sort of flash in the pan like

Oh yeah cool like this is going to be an anomaly three-point shooting year for him the way he’s become more efficient has been just simply not taking bad shots like as he said himself so that feels very much that he can do that over and over and over again and we know what

He’s been able to bring to you know the defense defensive end of the floor his whole career so like that feels like you’ve locked in Lou Dort to this new role obviously shooting can be Val Val to some extent especially being the best three-point shooter since the All-Star

Break but in general you know a well above Le League average shooter uh who plays the level of defense that he plays instantly makes him one of the best starters in the NBA that’s not a superstar and one of the best kind of complimentary starters you can you can really ask

For yeah without a doubt and whenever you look at the center team I think that Jay dub taking a step we were both very high on jdub coming into the year but but elevating himself to where it’s not crazy if you’ve been paying attention and you really dig into the numbers to

Kind of label him a superstar or or like assume to be superstar that’s still a pretty significant step for him in year number number two and being a guy that I think that we both head into next month thinking that he’ll be vital down the stretch and hit clutch time buckets for

The thunder in this postseason yeah I mean that the thing that’s going to make them dangerous down the stretch and and one of the reasons why they have the number one clutch offense in the league is that it’s not just one guy and it’s not just one thing

That they go to uh it’s it’s the fact that you have Shay screening for jdub and then getting him open and defenses are like I don’t know what to do I don’t know who to attach myself to at this point and it almost always winds up in

Like a open pull-up mid-range shot going left for jdub and if they can get to those spots they’re going to win games and I think that they’re slowly starting to figure out you know their Twan game the chat Twan game too chat’s had a lot of clutch shots too uh has had

A lot of clutch threes I think he’s it feels like he’s shooting 100% on clutch threes this season like that’s another thing that I think you could see more of is like trying to get him freed up and I’m excited to see what it looks like

It’s gonna it’s going to be so much fun to have the playoffs back the the tension and the and just the crazy that exists in the playoffs is is unlike any regular season game and I still I still think like the playoffs are just like this different

Beast like this kind of like different entity they’re it’s it’s different like sometimes you have to throw away a lot of these stats that exist in the regular season but I don’t know I’m excited to see it I’m excited to see like a really versatile really well-rounded Thunder

Team in the playoffs and to kind of see what they can do and see if Mark can work his magic very excited for the postseason excited to pod with you more throughout this season especially playoff preview Andrew thanks for coming on where can they find all your great

Stuff oh you can go listen to down to dunk uh you can find us on YouTube and on podcast catchers go listen to the athletic NBA show as well well or I’m a producer and a host there and then uh you can go to the OKC dream team

Patreon.com dream team if you are just a thunder sicko a true Thunder sicko and you just can’t get enough Thunder podcasts a true sicko that needs to pay to watch and you can go there right now and check it out George Harrison Ringo Star what a great combination that this

Has been you can also hopefully one day find an Andrew sco album you need to go find the back story on that on the Dream Team pod but Andrew thanks for joining us and we’ll do it again uh come playoff time thanks Ryland

The Oklahoma City Thunder will head into the NBA Playoffs as a top seed in the Western Conference. Andrew Schlecht of The Athletic and Down to Dunk joins the show to discuss how far the OKC Thunder can go this season. Jalen Williams big leap, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP case, good and bad playoff matchups, how this Thunder team can thrive and what needs to improve.

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