In a highly publicized non-conference matchup, two of the NBA’s best teams faced off in Milwaukee. The Thunder and Bucks are both top two in their respective conferences, and this seemed like a good opportunity for Oklahoma City to make a statement and compete with the playoffs on deck. But the exact opposite happened.
The Thunder fell flat and the starters sat out the entire fourth quarter for all the wrong reasons. Oklahoma City was blown out of the water and Milwaukee took a 118-93 victory. There were virtually no positives to take from the loss, and the Thunder have little time to sulk from defeat with a string of impossible games ahead. They need to quickly figure out what went wrong.
Stating the obvious, the lack of 33 3-pointers is the first piece of evidence to point out. Oklahoma City has been the most efficient outside shooting team in the NBA this season, so going ice cold like that during a big game was not at all normal.
But at one point in the game, the Thunder got away from their bread and butter. It didn’t feel like a normal outing for the team’s always-efficient offense. Oklahoma City stopped driving the basketball and couldn’t get to the free throw line, so it’s no surprise that everything became stale when jump shots weren’t falling.
“I’ll be interested to see how this goes,” Marc Daigneault said of the team’s open shots that didn’t fall. “But obviously we’d like to get to the paint, to the line, more than tonight. But we weren’t stubborn enough in terms of how hard we played, how fast we played.
Stubborn with the offensive system is exactly what Oklahoma City needs, Daigneault is right. When the Thunder imposes its philosophy and pace of play, the team is difficult to beat. Cutting, driving and putting pressure on the rim is what makes this team so special. Sunday evening, they lost sight of him and tried to escape.
Particularly when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can’t get going, the Thunder need to put even more emphasis on driving and kicking. On Sunday night, the team had just 20 assists, compared to Milwaukee’s 33. The Bucks also outscored the Thunder 57 to 37. Oklahoma City proved it could win even in games where they were out-rebounded, but it’s all amplified when the offense keeps going. stale.
Down the stretch and into the playoffs, Oklahoma City will need to be stubborn with its offense. Getting pushed around and deviating from the game plan is the worst thing that could happen to this young team.
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