Week in Review: Three-peat

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Against the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trailblazers, the Thunder continued their defensive regression. It has become a bit of a recurring issue–porous perimeter defense, inadequate help defense, and allowing easy shots in the paint.

While the Thunder were able to overcome 44 points from the Lakers’ Lou Williams (including 23 points in the fourth quarter), OKC was unable to stop the Blazers and Damien Lillard, as the Blazers hit 19 of 44 threes en route to a home victory over the Thunder.

With the three-point line being an equalizer in the NBA (or a real weapon in a chase for the best season of all time if you’re the Golden State Warriors), the Thunder’s inability to defend the three is a recurring nightmare–a three-peating nightmare if you will.

Of the plethora of disturbing issues this week, and especially against Portland, a couple of things stood out to me.

First was how the Thunder were getting totally abused on screens. If you watch the Warriors, one thing that Stephen Curry does so well is moving off the ball. For a point guard, not only does Curry do an excellent job of creating his own shot when he has the ball, he does an equally impressive job utilizing off-ball screens and staying active to create spot-up opportunities (28% of Curry’s shots are of the catch-and-shoot variety). Lillard, on the other hand, creates more off the bounce, using screens or isolation to create shot opportunities (only 19% of Lillard’s shots are catch and shoot).

The problem for the Thunder was total neglect for this tendency. There are varying ways to defend the pick and roll, but the Thunder’s preferred method is to switch. Sometimes this makes sense. If Kevin Durant is at PF, and the opposition runs a 1-4 screen (a PG using a PF’s screen), you probably don’t hate the switch. If it’s Enes Kanter at center, and the opposition runs a 1-5 screen, you’re probably wanting claw your eyeballs out as you watch Kanter try to defend a point guard.

Sometimes the Thunder would defend using more of a zone look, where instead of an outright switch, the big would sag into the paint to cut off dribble penetration while the perimeter defender recovers from the screen.

The problem with these two approaches (which seem to be the favored approaches for the Thunder), is that they were ineffective and improperly used against Lillard, a guy who has range but can beat his defender off the dribble. On multiple of Lillard’s threes, he would get the switch and have a guy like Steven Adams defending him, who, out of necessity, would sag and leave Lillard open for three. When the Thunder would zone up the screen, the positioning of the screen would leave Lillard with an open three (rather than lower-percentage mid-range 2 that you’re trying to force the ballhandler into taking). In the below GIF, you’ll see Durant get caught on a screen, and Adams sag deep into the paint, leaving Lillard a wide-open corner three (forget he missed, this is still poor defense).

The Blazers were smart enough to exploit the Thunder’s poor PNR defense, which led to many of Lillard’s three-point shots. In fact, 9 of Lillard’s attempts were off of a pick or after a mismatch switch, meaning Lillard shot 6-9 from three due to PNR defense.

The second thing that stood out to me is sometimes related to PNR defense and sometimes just a case of the lazies, but scrambling help defense often leads to wide open shots. Case in point, 36% of Portland’s three-pointers were either wide open (no defender within 6 feet) or open (defender within 4-6 feet). On the season, only 26% of the Blazers’ three-point attempts have been wide-open or open. With so many open shots, the Blazers took them in droves and had a season-high in attempts (44) and makes (19). The Blazers converted them at a 43% clip, their 7th best three-point shooting percentage of the season.

So really, the shocking thing isn’t that the Thunder lost playing such poor defense, it’s more that the Thunder were even competitive.

THE GAMES

• Win vs. the Memphis Grizzlies on January 6, 112-94
• Win at the Los Angeles Lakers on January 8, 117-113
• Loss at the Portland Trailblazers on January 10,  110-115

THE BEST PLAYER

Russell Westbrook. The best word I can conjure up to summarize the last three games is “blah.” Maybe, “meh,” fits that as well. I had a similar feeling when selecting the player of the week. While Westbrook and Durant had good weeks, as they do quite regularly, my sense of wonderment was muted by the Thunder giving up 228 combined points to the Lakers and Trailblazers. That being said, Westbrook deserves accolades for his play over the last three games.

This week, Westbrook nearly averaged a triple double: 27 points, 9.7 assists, and 9.3 rebounds. I’d say that’s good enough to garner a “best player” nod.

THE WORST PLAYER

Nick Collison. I called Collison old last week. I kind of feel bad about that, but for the second consecutive week, Collison did little to counter my belief. In 32 total minutes, Collison scored just 2 points (on 2 free throws), missed every shot he took, and had just 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.

It’s somewhat interesting, however, that for all the clamoring for DJ Augustin to be replaced by Cameron Payne, the same is not being said of Collison and Mitch McGary. Maybe part of it is because the defense is a real issue, and while Collison is still half a step slow, he has proven he knows what he’s doing defensively–something McGary still needs to learn.

I think Coach Donovan revealed a little bit of his answer to the Collison conundrum in the loss to Portland. At the end of the first quarter, rather than sub in a traditional big to play the 4, Durant switched to the 4 and played with Cameron Payne, Dion Waiters, Anthony Morrow, and Enes Kanter. Similarly, in the second half, Collison didn’t play at all, and the Thunder used two different small-ball lineups with Durant at PF, one with Kanter at center, and one with Adams at center. Granted, some of this may have been match-up driven, but the Thunder have proven that going small may be a real weapon, and Donovan is testing the waters with Adams, Ibaka, and Kanter at center, looking for flexibility in his small-ball units, hopefully so the Thunder can spend more time with Durant at PF, and less time with Collison playing back-up frontcourt minutes.

THE BEST PERFORMANCE

Kevin Durant against the Memphis Grizzlies.   After a pedestrian 2-10 start from the field in the first half, Durant scorched the Grizzlies to the tune of 17 second-half points on 7-8 shooting. Durant was also a maniac on the boards, accumulating 17 rebounds (4 offensive). In addition to his 17 rebounds, Durant finished with 26 points, 3 assists, a steal and a block in 33 minutes of action.

THE WORST PERFORMANCE

The Thunder’s defense against the Portland Trailblazers. See above.

One other stat I’d like to share (h/t to DT poster Pillendreher): Off the heels of Williams’s 44-point outburst and Lillard’s 31-point night, the Thunder have allowed 26 players to score 25 or more points in a game. The Spurs, on the other hand, have had just 10 players score 25+ points against them.

THE BEST PLAY

Steven Adams’s no-look pass to Andre Roberson. That no-look dish by Adams was as sweet as a plate full of sugar. (Get it? Dish? Plate? Sweet? Sugar?)

THE WORST PLAY

The decisive play against the Portland Trailblazers. Down 3, with a chance to tie the game if they can just secure the rebound off of Lillard’s missed three, the Thunder (ahem, Durant) don’t box out and let Portland grab the offensive rebound, all but securing the loss. I’m having deja vu to the Thunder’s failure to rebound against the Heat.

WEEK IN PREVIEW

• At the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 12 at 7:00 pm (FSOK). The Thunder get their first look at the number one overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft: Karl-Anthony Towns.
• Vs. the Dallas Mavericks on January 13 at 7:00 pm (FSOK). The Dallas Mavericks have been playing steady ball en route to 5th place in the Western Conference.
• Vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 15 at 6:00 pm (ESPN). The Thunder get their second look at Towns just 3 days later, but this time fans in Oklahoma City get to watch in person.
• Vs. the Miami Heat on January 17 at 6:00 pm (FSOK). OKC’s 97-95 loss to the Heat back on December 3, 2015 still irks me.