10.29.24 Bolts: Hype Train
ALL ABOARD
The Thunder are 3-0 and sitting atop everyone's power rankings alongside the Celtics. Being neck and neck with the dominant defending champs: not a bad feeling. Shai, Chet, and Jalen are playing with the force and swagger of the league's best stars. Grab some bolts before the hype train leaves the station.
Joel Lorenzi (The Oklahoman) on Cason Wallace's lockdown defense in the Thunder win over the Hawks:
"As Atlanta star Trae Young hoped to initiate fourth-quarter offense, Wallace appeared to be made of rubber. As Young attempted to drive, he bounced off Wallace’s improved frame like a Goodyear tire. Young wants to get to the elbow? Well, he’ll have to settle for a date with Wallace’s elbow. Young wants a paint touch? Wallace already has his location. In nine fourth-quarter minutes, Young was 0 for 3 from the field with three turnovers — all Wallace needed to help OKC go on a wild run."
Anthony Slater (The Athletic) adds to the choo choos in a great overview of OKC's early start.
Here's Mark Daigneault on whether the Thunder could've fared better offensively in their playoff series loss to Dallas last season: “They played us differently (after Game 1) when they started bumping the five-man low,” Daigneault said. “That changed the feel of the series for us, and we really had to adjust. (Games 5 and 6), I liked how we attacked. I like the quality stuff we got, and I liked the tempo against that particular team. You can’t allow them to dictate the tempo as much as they did in Games 2 through 4. In Games 5 and 6, we loosened the game up, especially in Game 6 in a way that, if I were to replay it all over again with the lessons, the exact same teams and the lessons that we learned, we would have probably gotten more aggressive with tempo earlier in the series and would have gotten to where we were in the last couple of games in terms of how to manipulate their defense in their scheme.”
"I just hope that he’s really, really going to get compensated. He obviously got a great situation, but he’s also at the point where his age, some of the things he’s had to deal with health-wise too. He’s always played banged up and hurt.”
SGA will be in season 2 of the Netflix NBA show. OKC is the NBA's Hollywood:
Sources: Cast for season two of Netflix's NBA documentary series Starting 5: Kevin Durant, James Harden, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton. 🍿🍿🍿 pic.twitter.com/FYlsRDLf0o
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 29, 2024
The latest practice report from Clemente Almanza (OKC Thunder Wire).
Nick Crain (Forbes) smells a special season brewing:
"In short, Oklahoma City has been dominant through three games but hasn’t even gotten close to where this team will be when the offense gets going. If the start of the season is any indication of how good this Oklahoma City team could be, this might be the best Thunder regular season in franchise history."