Postseason Bolts: Up One

The Thunder beat the Pelicans in Game 1. Barely. The general national consensus is that a combination of nerves and lack of size led to some of the uncharacteristically poor offense and characteristically poor rebounding that marked their too-close-for-comfort squeaker against New Orleans. Angst from OKC's fanbase is echoing the concerns the Thunder faithful have had all season: the rotation is too deep, Josh Giddey complicates the on-court dynamics more than he helps them, and the missing frontcourt piece has yet to be acquired or developed enough for primetime.

I'm not here to hector anyone's postseason overreactions. My only suggestion: you may as well wait until the Thunder have lost a home game before you expect the team to divert from its approach.

Ryan Woods and Brandon Rahbar talk Game 1 and 2 on the latest Daily Thunder podcast:

Mark Daigneault is prepared to drive you crazy by not shortening his playoff rotation, per Clemente Almanza (USA Today).

“There’s advantages to having depth,” Daigneault said. “There’s probably like a subtle pressure to cut it down arbitrarily but they all played well last night. … If we (played) eight guys last night, and we had to pivot to one of the other three or four that didn’t play. Now you’re like dusting them off. They haven’t gotten in a game yet. They haven’t touched the floor yet. They haven’t gotten a taste yet. And now you’re going to them and it’s somewhat reactive.”

Tre Mann, man.

Oklahoma City's 2024 draft position is still beholden to the bouncing of ping pong balls, but the pick they owe Utah will convey at #29 after a lost coin flip with Denver.