The Thunder rolls into the second game of a four-game homestand on Sunday night as it squares off with the Brooklyn Nets. Thanks to a string of strong defensive performances in November and a gutsy 18-point comeback against Sacramento, OKC stands at 5-6 on a four-game win streak.
What to Watch
Shutting off the Opposition’s Action In the Thunder’s 105-103 win over Sacramento, the Kings got loose over the first 28 minutes of action on pick and roll alley-oop lobs, in particular to Richaun Holmes. After Head Coach Mark Daigneault’s timeout with 8:12 remaining in the third quarter, the Kings didn’t score again on that type of above-the-rim action again. The low man on the weak side of the defense started pinching in more and bumping the roller to prevent a runway to the rim. Putting the clamps on that movement was an excellent sign of the ability to adjust in-game by this young Thunder squad.
Downhill Dort Against Sacramento, Lu Dort darted backdoor to receive a one-handed lefty bounce pass from the right-handed Josh Giddey for an and-one reverse layup. It was one of three layups that Dort made in the game while being fouled. It’s a continued progression for Dort as a finisher in the paint, where he shot 7-of-10 against the Kings. As a “ground athlete”, as Head Coach Mark Daigneault calls him, Dort has focused on his mechanics and mentality as he tries to time his attacks through the timbers down low.
Poku’s Hustle Plays In recent games, including Friday against Sacramento, Aleksej Pokuševski has shown his knack for making the hustle plays to help his team win games. Over a 3-minute stretch to close the third quarter, Pokuševski forced a turnover, made two assists and blocked a shot to help cut Sacramento’s lead to single digits heading into the final frame. First, the 2nd-year forward took a move out of Dort’s playbook by hustling around a pick and drawing the illegal screen call.
“For sure, I saw that from Lu,” Pokuševski said. “He gets that like once or twice every game. So I'm trying to play with energy.”
On the next possession he followed his own miss with a rebound and flicked the ball behind his back to Derrick Favors for a push shot. After a Kings timeout, Pokuševski drove baseline and found Favors again for a dunk before helping close the quarter with a chase down blocked shot to save a sure Kings basket.
Notable
Darius Bazley has knocked down 13 of his last 31 3-point attempts (41.9 percent), and has scored in double-figures in each of the last five games while averaging 13.8 points on 52.0 percent shooting on 9-of-18 3-point marksmanship. During that same stretch, he’s gobbled up 7.4 rebounds per game, mostly on the defensive end where he clears the glass to finish possessions and start OKC’s break.
Quotable
“Our resilience has definitely been on display at different times this season. We've tried to train that muscle through every situation, not just when we’re coming back or when the comebacks result in wins. Our group is continuing to improve. There's a lot of possessions in the game and you’re not going to get them all right. There’s 105 offensive possessions and 105 defensive possessions and if out of 210 of them, 70 percent of them are above the water line, then you're pretty good. It’s important to understand that when you lose a game, it doesn't mean you did everything wrong and when you win a game it doesn't mean you did everything right.”—Coach Daigneault
Scouting Report
Sitting near the very top of the Eastern Conference, the Nets boast one of the top five defensive ratings in the NBA at 104.1 while also rolling out some elite offensive weapons in Kevin Durant and James Harden. Durant is the only player to score 20-or-more points in every game this season, while Harden has been doing his work on jump shots His average shot distance is 19.7’, the fourth longest in the NBA this season. It’ll be up to the Thunder to show both players a crowd and have the resilience to withstand difficult shots that go down and have the resolve to contest more misses than makes as the game goes on.