Nuggets and notes
- There’s no sugar-coating it: last night sucked. The Charlotte Hornets shouldn’t be able to waltz into the Paycom Center and beat the defending champs by 27. After the Oklahoma City Thunder tied the game at 33 after a rough start, the Thunder were barely even competitive for the rest of the game.
- OKC’s chilly night made the North Pole seem downright pleasant, while in Charlotte it was so hot it’s going to star in the next Glen Powell movie.
- Charlotte shot 53% from the field, 51% from three and 92% from the line. On the other hand, the Thunder shot 37% from the field, 28% from three and 67% from the charity stripe. I mean, OKC’s shooting percentage was so bad that its three-point percentage was above FG% at several times, and OKC’s three-point percentage peaked in the mid-30s.
- I tried really hard last night to figure out who the Thunder’s best player was. I don’t know, man, I think it was Kenrich Williams. Kenny scored 8 points (2-for-3 from deep), had 3 rebounds (2 offensive), 2 assists and 2 steals in 17 minutes.
- I said yesterday that we wouldn’t see as many rough nights from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But that’s two in a row, and this one was rougher.
- That said, SGA couldn’t buy a free throw. Several attempts should have resulted in a foul, but there was still no whistle to be seen. Shai isn’t much of a complainer, but at one point it seemed like he was asking how hard the Hornets had to hack him before a foul would be called. Should there be blood on the field?
- The Thunder attack the paint more than any other team in the league, led by the MVP. But if the referee allows opponents to throw their hands in without penalty, OKC’s foul is neutralized. If the Thunder have to rely on jump shooting to win, you can probably forget about the replay.
- OKC scored 29 points off turnovers, compared to just 8 on Charlotte. I couldn’t imagine OKC getting +28 points versus turnover and to lose by 27. Crazy stuff, really.
- The Thunder are just 6-6 over their last twelve games, and the Spurs are moving within four games to first place in the Western Conference.
- I think I’ll take a look the last 3 minutes of Game 7 of the NBA Finals on repeat today.
One important takeaway
I’d like to erase this one from my memory, but I’m not going to let you hang around without takeout. And today’s takeaway is brought to you with the letter “R”. R for rebound.
Without Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams, OKC has been beaten up on the boards. Since December 28 (the last time Hart played), every opponent has had at least ten offensive rebounds, and last night was particularly painful.
Charlotte grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, but that statistic is even more shocking when you consider that Charlotte shot 51% from the field. Using my mathematical wizardry, the Hornets recovered 33% of their misses. OKC needs to figure out how to prevent its opponents from getting second chance after second chance.
Getting Hart and J-Will back will certainly help, but if you want to look at one key to each of the Thunder’s losses, a rebound could be it. In each of the Thunder’s six losses this season, the team has given up double figures in offensive rebounds.
OKC has done a good job starving its opponents of assets, mainly through turnovers. But if the opposition can counter that by rebounding, especially while shooting 99% from the field, that’s a recipe for a big L.
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