WCQF | (4) Oklahoma City Thunder vs Utah Jazz (5) | UTA 4-2

[bondom34]

Utah, as a team, still shot below their regular season average from 3. Would you have felt better if Rubio had been 2-8, Mitchell had been 2-7 and Crowder had been 1-3?

So did okc game 2. Adams was also a non factor in a matchup he usually wins and Russ hasn't had a good game yet. Would you feel better if either of them played to their average once?

russ is going to have problems with ricky and gobert no matter what. it seems hopeless, the way he is playing.

I'd hope that at some point he has a good game. We haven't seen it yet offensively and you said it yourself last game, if Rubio is out playing him they're not going to win.

[Pillendreher]

Schematically Russ is going over screens and the roll man is taking a deep drop specifically to force Rubio into mid-range shots. If he repeatedly hits them that's not on Russ or Adams, that's when you either concede it's not working or you live and die on the percentages. I can't watch Slick's link right now, but anecdotally there are definitely times when a mediocre or even bad shooter starts making shots at a high percentage and seems to make more difficult ones in addition. To me that means you need to adjust your defense, but that's a Donovan issue. I also hate the deep drop and Chase over picks look because it allows penetration which almost always results in scrambling defense at the very least.

Adams wasn't dropping back tho. They were semi-trapping those actions with Adams leaving Gobert and Russ lagging behind the play. And that's when Melo comes into play.

[dakomish23]

Schematically Russ is going over screens and the roll man is taking a deep drop specifically to force Rubio into mid-range shots. If he repeatedly hits them that's not on Russ or Adams, that's when you either concede it's not working or you live and die on the percentages. I can't watch Slick's link right now, but anecdotally there are definitely times when a mediocre or even bad shooter starts making shots at a high percentage and seems to make more difficult ones in addition. To me that means you need to adjust your defense, but that's a Donovan issue. I also hate the deep drop and Chase over picks look because it allows penetration which almost always results in scrambling defense at the very least.

Adams wasn't dropping back tho. They were semi-trapping those actions with Adams leaving Gobert and Russ lagging behind the play. And that's when Melo comes into play.

Is it on Russ to go to the man in the corner when that happens? Because when someone picked up the the roll guy, Rubio was sitting and waiting.

[dakomish23]

The scouting report is literally to let Rubio shoot. This was one of the games Westbrook was fine defensively. If Rubio shoots 5-8 for 3, you live with it.

No, he wasn't fine. Far from it. He was either too far away leaving him completely uncovered or much too close giving him the opportunity to drive by him, forcing Adams to help. The way Russ defended him this game was the main reason for our defensive struggles. Going over screens when he should be going under them. Giving him room to drive when he should have forced him to shoot. Giving him too much room to shoot. This was all evident in the 2nd quarter when he was trying to get back at Ricky Martin on both ends of the floor.

You don't live with Melo being too immobile to defend basic actions.

Grant has to come in for him.

Melo literally had the best On/Off DRtG in this game by far.

Melo had that rating because of who he's on court with.

And yes, that was the plan. The literal plan was to let Rubio shoot. He did in game 1 and they won because of it. He did in 2 and they lost because of it. 1 game on/off stats are meaningless. Russ had the 3rd best D on/off. So where does that put it?

Would you easily dismiss it if he had a bad rating?

There is a difference between the quality of the Rubio had in game one versus game two. How many wide open corner 3’s did he take in game 1 versus game 2?

[Pillendreher]

Schematically Russ is going over screens and the roll man is taking a deep drop specifically to force Rubio into mid-range shots. If he repeatedly hits them that's not on Russ or Adams, that's when you either concede it's not working or you live and die on the percentages. I can't watch Slick's link right now, but anecdotally there are definitely times when a mediocre or even bad shooter starts making shots at a high percentage and seems to make more difficult ones in addition. To me that means you need to adjust your defense, but that's a Donovan issue. I also hate the deep drop and Chase over picks look because it allows penetration which almost always results in scrambling defense at the very least.

Adams wasn't dropping back tho. They were semi-trapping those actions with Adams leaving Gobert and Russ lagging behind the play. And that's when Melo comes into play.

Is it on Russ to go to the man in the corner when that happens? Because when someone picked up the the roll guy, Rubio was sitting and waiting.

If Russ leaves Rubio, he has to do something. The defensive strategy can't be 'You just take the possession off'.

[bondom34]

No, he wasn't fine. Far from it. He was either too far away leaving him completely uncovered or much too close giving him the opportunity to drive by him, forcing Adams to help. The way Russ defended him this game was the main reason for our defensive struggles. Going over screens when he should be going under them. Giving him room to drive when he should have forced him to shoot. Giving him too much room to shoot. This was all evident in the 2nd quarter when he was trying to get back at Ricky Martin on both ends of the floor.



Melo literally had the best On/Off DRtG in this game by far.

Melo had that rating because of who he's on court with.

And yes, that was the plan. The literal plan was to let Rubio shoot. He did in game 1 and they won because of it. He did in 2 and they lost because of it. 1 game on/off stats are meaningless. Russ had the 3rd best D on/off. So where does that put it?

Would you easily dismiss it if he had a bad rating?

There is a difference between the quality of the Rubio had in game one versus game two. How many wide open corner 3’s did he take in game 1 versus game 2?

The ones he helped off because of a screen on Melo or Mitchell beating PG?

The whole Twitter thread posted is Melo getting beat

[dakomish23]

Melo had that rating because of who he's on court with.

And yes, that was the plan. The literal plan was to let Rubio shoot. He did in game 1 and they won because of it. He did in 2 and they lost because of it. 1 game on/off stats are meaningless. Russ had the 3rd best D on/off. So where does that put it?

Would you easily dismiss it if he had a bad rating?

There is a difference between the quality of the Rubio had in game one versus game two. How many wide open corner 3’s did he take in game 1 versus game 2?

The ones he helped off because of a screen on Melo or Mitchell beating PG?

The whole Twitter thread posted is Melo getting beat

They run a Favors PnR. Favors gets the ball at the FT line b/c OKC is trapping the ball handler. Favors kicks it to a wide open Rubio in the corner.

Was that the quality of fga Rubio was getting in game 1? Or was it contested off the dribble fadeaways.

I didn’t see anything the Twitter thread.

Would you dismiss the bad rating like you are the good?

[bondom34]

Would you easily dismiss it if he had a bad rating?

There is a difference between the quality of the Rubio had in game one versus game two. How many wide open corner 3’s did he take in game 1 versus game 2?

The ones he helped off because of a screen on Melo or Mitchell beating PG?

The whole Twitter thread posted is Melo getting beat

They run a Favors PnR. Favors gets the ball at the FT line b/c OKC is trapping the ball handler. Favors kicks it to a wide open Rubio in the corner.

Was that the quality of fga Rubio was getting in game 1? Or was it contested off the dribble fadeaways

Both.

Game 1 he shot 2 of 13 on uncontested shots. Game 2 he shot 5 of 11.

[bondom34]

Would you easily dismiss it if he had a bad rating?

There is a difference between the quality of the Rubio had in game one versus game two. How many wide open corner 3’s did he take in game 1 versus game 2?

The ones he helped off because of a screen on Melo or Mitchell beating PG?

The whole Twitter thread posted is Melo getting beat

They run a Favors PnR. Favors gets the ball at the FT line b/c OKC is trapping the ball handler. Favors kicks it to a wide open Rubio in the corner.

Was that the quality of fga Rubio was getting in game 1? Or was it contested off the dribble fadeaways

Both.

Game 1 he shot 2 of 13 on uncontested shots. Game 2 he shot 5 of 11.

[Andre Roberstan]

Schematically Russ is going over screens and the roll man is taking a deep drop specifically to force Rubio into mid-range shots. If he repeatedly hits them that's not on Russ or Adams, that's when you either concede it's not working or you live and die on the percentages. I can't watch Slick's link right now, but anecdotally there are definitely times when a mediocre or even bad shooter starts making shots at a high percentage and seems to make more difficult ones in addition. To me that means you need to adjust your defense, but that's a Donovan issue. I also hate the deep drop and Chase over picks look because it allows penetration which almost always results in scrambling defense at the very least.

Adams wasn't dropping back tho. They were semi-trapping those actions with Adams leaving Gobert and Russ lagging behind the play. And that's when Melo comes into play.

Is it on Russ to go to the man in the corner when that happens? Because when someone picked up the the roll guy, Rubio was sitting and waiting.

Tagger is supposed to just tag and recover back to his guy, but some teams are moving away from even having a tagger at all because it opens up the corner 3. OKC is...apparently not one of them.

If the backside help has to go another direction or can't get back in time, someone has to rotate to help on the kickout, and then another guy has to help on the man who's left open. If the guy trapping the box or sinking and filling gets caught out, someone has to get out to cover the kickout, and then the other guy performs an X-out, where they cross paths to make sure no one gets left out.

It's a bit confusing to explain, but there's a great explanation from Dylan Murphy on the Basketball Dictionary:

https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/x-out-78e01e2e4c9d

[AGE1207]

In shambles.

OKC has the better top talent.

Utah has the better team.

Correct summary.
Jazz probably with the better coach too. OKC fans are going to sell themselves short if they simply blame the refs.
Taking out Adams to open up the paint was a Snyder plan.

Along with the plans of the other 28 coaches that was used against us all year. Snyder is a great coach but having Adams chase people on the perimeter isn’t a new issue for okc

I was referring to taking Adams out of the game, not out of the paint.

[Pillendreher]

Gameday! Let's regain the lead! Go Thunder!

[Pillendreher]

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Patterson needs more minutes. And he needs to make a shot. And get shot opportunities: Only two FGA so far. And one of them was a random putback attempt last game.

[ducler]

[Pillendreher]

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[Thunder Up]

This game is in the bag tonight

[hardenASG13]

This game is in the bag tonight

Would be nice, have heard horror stories of Utah at home. Feels like a big Westbrook game coming, 35-40 points

[Osirus89]

This game is in the bag tonight

Would be nice, have heard horror stories of Utah at home. Feels like a big Westbrook game coming, 35-40 points

I would hope so. I just watched Jrue and AD both drop 40+ points. If these players are as good as they think they are..they need to step it up. Either that or they can shut the hell up.

[ThunderBolt]

I hope these first two possessions don’t foreshadow the version of russ we get to see tonight.

[Pillendreher]

I like that they're collapsing on random guys to give up open corner 3s