There’s a ton of open shots in the NBA these days. There’s never been more space between players, there’s never been better shooters, and it’s never been harder to defend. That’s what makes the Oklahoma City Thunder so impressive. They get in the gaps, take away driving and passing lanes, and dare players they want to shoot open shots to go ahead and shoot those open shots. It resulted in one of the best defensive performances in a single quarter of playoff basketball ever.
The Numbers Behind the Timberwolves’ Nine-point Quarter
The Timberwolves hit three shots in the first quarter of an elimination game against the Thunder. Three. Six of their attempts were wide open threes. Jaden McDaniels missed three of them in the corner. They also missed all four of their open looks (closest defender 4-6 feet away). They were 1-for-8 against tight coverage, and 1-for-2 against very tight coverage.
Half of the Timberwolves’ shots in the first quarter weren’t good ones, and they weren’t easy to get either. The Thunder blitzed the ball at midcourt and killed time off the shot clock. Nothing was easy for Minnesota in the first. Even Anthony Edwards’ finishes at the rim required some extra special sauce and finesse to beat two shot blockers.
Zach Lowe isolated multiple clips from the game on The Zach Lowe Show that give you a sense of what Edwards was up against. He’s repeatedly driving into the paint, trapped in a box by four OKC defenders.
The hounding defense of the Thunder throughout this series had a visible impact on the Wolves. Professional pain-in-the-ass Alex Caruso faked an attempt at a steal on Naz Reid, and he dribbled the ball off his foot. Caruso didn’t touch the ball. He didn’t have to because he’d spent the series burrowing his way deeper and deeper into Reid’s head. Two words: rent free.
A flat-footed Chet Holmgren simply got a hand up to contest a three-foot jumper by Nickeil Alexander-Walker and visibly altered Walker’s shot. The Wolves were playing scared because the Thunder put the fear in them, completing the gentleman’s sweep with ease.
Blaming Anthony Edwards is Crazy Lazy
Edwards is going to take a lot of crap from gasbags for not scoring enough in this series, but he doesn’t deserve all of it. Almost half of his field goal attempts (46 percent) came against tight or very tight coverage. He shot over 50 percent (22-of-40) despite that suffocating defense.
Edwards had just 17 wide open looks in the series. He hit 11, with eight of them counting for three. McDaniels had twice as many wide open looks, with 22 coming from three-point range. He hit eight of them.
Edwards also played suffocating defense. He posted the best defended field goal percentage in the series, allowing just 38.6 percent shooting on shots he defended.
Instead of blaming Edwards, we should be celebrating the Oklahoma City Thunder defense. Their defensive plan was obvious and executed perfectly. They contested shots effectively, and they dared the right guys to beat them.
NBA.com
When wide open in this series, McDaniels was 10-for-24, Donte DiVincenzo was 9-for-21, Alexander-Walker was 2-for-11, Conley was 4-for-12, and Reid was 0-for-6. That’s 25-for-74, or 33.8 percent shooting. OKC helped off these players to make life miserable for “the dribblers.”
Thunder in the Area: Dribble at Your Own Risk
Randle is notoriously loose with the basketball but loves to dribble anyway. The Thunder forced him to turn it over 18 times in the series. Edwards has to dribble and turnovers are a natural result, but only OKC could get him to cough it up 16 times. Reid, like Randle, is another guy with a high dribble that’s easily stolen by smaller defenders. He had 11 turnovers.
The Thunder averaged 11 steals per game in the series and have been the highest-scoring team in transition, averaging 25.3 points per game in these playoffs. That’s the championship-winning formula Nico Harrison is talking about when he says “defense wins championships.” Reminds me of another dynasty in Chicago. And the New York Knicks are learning how quickly bad defense can destroy championship hopes, too.
Open shots are a choice for OKC. They dictate who takes them and from where. They take away your best option, take the ball from those who dare dribble, and take your soul en route to a score. They will be champions, but Indiana/OKC will be really fun to watch.
