2/5 | G53: Orlando Magic at Oklahoma City Thunder - 7PM CST

[Dadouv47]

Will Jrue be available to play on thursday?

[Dadouv47]

PG13 already seeing Ross in a Thunder uniform... WTF?

[Dadouv47]

Russ confidence is down. He was pissed to go at the free throw line...

[Dn4sty]

I don’t care how it looked. They won and that’s all the matters.

[ThunderBolt]

Happy we won but this teams ceiling is so much lower with russ offensive struggles. Six for ten from the line? That just doesn’t cut it.

[Dadouv47]

Happy we won but this teams ceiling is so much lower with russ offensive struggles. Six for ten from the line? That just doesn’t cut it.

Well we shot 50/43/73 so offense wasn't the problem.

But yeah obviously when Westbrook can attack the paint and hit his midrange shot it's more difficult for opponents to defend on us.

[Dadouv47]

Grant was crazy good in second half. He did all the little things that stats won't show.

[ThunderBolt]

Happy we won but this teams ceiling is so much lower with russ offensive struggles. Six for ten from the line? That just doesn’t cut it.

Well we shot 50/43/73 so offense wasn't the problem.

But yeah obviously when Westbrook can attack the paint and hit his midrange shot it's more difficult for opponents to defend on us.

As a team our offense has been better. When the playoffs come and teams target players specific weaknesses it could get ugly. Russ has to either figure out his shot (which has never really been figured out) or just quit shooting and looking for his shot almost entirely. Right now we don’t have the personnel for him to not be a major scorer but that might be the best blue print for success with the way he’s playing.

[Dadouv47]

Happy we won but this teams ceiling is so much lower with russ offensive struggles. Six for ten from the line? That just doesn’t cut it.

Well we shot 50/43/73 so offense wasn't the problem.

But yeah obviously when Westbrook can attack the paint and hit his midrange shot it's more difficult for opponents to defend on us.

As a team our offense has been better. When the playoffs come and teams target players specific weaknesses it could get ugly. Russ has to either figure out his shot (which has never really been figured out) or just quit shooting and looking for his shot almost entirely. Right now we don’t have the personnel for him to not be a major scorer but that might be the best blue print for success with the way he’s playing.

sure I agree. If Russ could hit his midrange like he used to, it would be way more difficult to defend against us.

I still have some hope that comes playoff time he will give some extra energy on offense (maybe attacking the paint, won't bet on him hitting his shots )

[magicman112]

Orlando has played some good defense at times tonight.

Magic fan here good game and yep we can do that but just don't have shooting or consistent offense. Hoping a deal is made here in the next few days this group as it is just isn't going to cut it.

[Pillendreher]

Our defense has sucked long enough that it’s time to be concerned. These guys are just lazy the last few weeks.

I know the effort hasn't been there as before, but man, some of these defensive performances are also due to some shotmaking we simply didn't see before. Until the Wizards loss, we were 7th in opp eFG% at 50.6. Since then, our opposing eFG% has been 54.8 %. We saw it in this game: Once the Magic stopped making everything they threw up, we were able to take control of the game.

Sometimes defense is just about opposing players missing. But it feels like our opp eFG% is tied to our own eFG%:



For opposing teams to miss shots, we'll have to stop making ours.

[CROklahoma]

PG, what a get, easily the best Presti move ever, after those first 3 draft picks. If he could gamble like that one more time and score, well, we're the next GSW.

[1bigfan13]

OKC got away with one last night. They were way too sloppy with their passes and on defense. Which is why so many of of our core rotation guys were in foul trouble.

Luckily Orlando's a bad team who made several mistakes of their own.

[Old Man Game]

Our defense has sucked long enough that it’s time to be concerned. These guys are just lazy the last few weeks.

I know the effort hasn't been there as before, but man, some of these defensive performances are also due to some shotmaking we simply didn't see before. Until the Wizards loss, we were 7th in opp eFG% at 50.6. Since then, our opposing eFG% has been 54.8 %. We saw it in this game: Once the Magic stopped making everything they threw up, we were able to take control of the game.

Sometimes defense is just about opposing players missing. But it feels like our opp eFG% is tied to our own eFG%:



For opposing teams to miss shots, we'll have to stop making ours.

Wasn't there a stat tossed around the first couple weeks of the season that opposing teams were missing open shots against us? I could swear I recall something like that and some people on here were even pointing out that eventually teams would begin making those open looks we were surrendering and our results would get a lot worse.

Provided that's true, well, here we are.

[Pillendreher]

Our defense has sucked long enough that it’s time to be concerned. These guys are just lazy the last few weeks.

I know the effort hasn't been there as before, but man, some of these defensive performances are also due to some shotmaking we simply didn't see before. Until the Wizards loss, we were 7th in opp eFG% at 50.6. Since then, our opposing eFG% has been 54.8 %. We saw it in this game: Once the Magic stopped making everything they threw up, we were able to take control of the game.

Sometimes defense is just about opposing players missing. But it feels like our opp eFG% is tied to our own eFG%:



For opposing teams to miss shots, we'll have to stop making ours.

Wasn't there a stat tossed around the first couple weeks of the season that opposing teams were missing open shots against us? I could swear I recall something like that and some people on here were even pointing out that eventually teams would begin making those open looks we were surrendering and our results would get a lot worse.

Provided that's true, well, here we are.

I don't know if there's a clear cut stat for that, but what I've said applies in that regard as well imo: Luck matters. You can do certain things to force teams into bad shots, etc., but at some point, you just have to hope they miss.

I can give you the "contest numbers" though:

Games 1-38: 72.9 % opposing 2PA | 80.7 % opposing 3PA | 75.6 % opposing FGA
Games 39-53: 69.3 % opposing 2PA | 79.5 % opposing 3PA | 73.0 % opposing FGA

75.6 % of all opposing FGA contested would rank 3rd on the season; 15th. Like I said: The effort in general hasn't been there. And that needs to change. But I also think that we've simply had some bad luck the last month or so defensively.

EDIT:

Here's the "closest defender" shot data, applied to the game split I mentioned above:

Very Tight FG%: 44.7 (14th) | 51.5 % (28th)
Tight FG%: 49.7 % (11th) | 51.1 % (18th)
Open: 42.0 % (3rd) | 46.0 % (24th)
Wide Open: 40.8 % (11th) | 45.8 % (29th)

[SecondTake]

Our defense has sucked long enough that it’s time to be concerned. These guys are just lazy the last few weeks.

I know the effort hasn't been there as before, but man, some of these defensive performances are also due to some shotmaking we simply didn't see before. Until the Wizards loss, we were 7th in opp eFG% at 50.6. Since then, our opposing eFG% has been 54.8 %. We saw it in this game: Once the Magic stopped making everything they threw up, we were able to take control of the game.

Sometimes defense is just about opposing players missing. But it feels like our opp eFG% is tied to our own eFG%:



For opposing teams to miss shots, we'll have to stop making ours.

You've been making the same point after every game for about a month now. I think it's time to accept the fact that the reason opposing teams can't miss against us is because we can't defend them. Team quit on the defensive end about 5 weeks ago and traded it in for offense. I guess nightly shootouts put more butts in seats.

There is a very inverse relationship between our offense and defense though. I don't believe we're capable of good offense and good defense simultaneously. Question is why?

[Pillendreher]

Our defense has sucked long enough that it’s time to be concerned. These guys are just lazy the last few weeks.

I know the effort hasn't been there as before, but man, some of these defensive performances are also due to some shotmaking we simply didn't see before. Until the Wizards loss, we were 7th in opp eFG% at 50.6. Since then, our opposing eFG% has been 54.8 %. We saw it in this game: Once the Magic stopped making everything they threw up, we were able to take control of the game.

Sometimes defense is just about opposing players missing. But it feels like our opp eFG% is tied to our own eFG%:



For opposing teams to miss shots, we'll have to stop making ours.

You've been making the same point after every game for about a month now. I think it's time to accept the fact that the reason opposing teams can't miss against us is because we can't defend them. Team quit on the defensive end about 5 weeks ago and traded it in for offense. I guess nightly shootouts put more butts in seats.

So suddenly we can't defend even though we defend at an historic level for months? I don't find that plausible at all.

[SecondTake]

I know the effort hasn't been there as before, but man, some of these defensive performances are also due to some shotmaking we simply didn't see before. Until the Wizards loss, we were 7th in opp eFG% at 50.6. Since then, our opposing eFG% has been 54.8 %. We saw it in this game: Once the Magic stopped making everything they threw up, we were able to take control of the game.

Sometimes defense is just about opposing players missing. But it feels like our opp eFG% is tied to our own eFG%:



For opposing teams to miss shots, we'll have to stop making ours.

You've been making the same point after every game for about a month now. I think it's time to accept the fact that the reason opposing teams can't miss against us is because we can't defend them. Team quit on the defensive end about 5 weeks ago and traded it in for offense. I guess nightly shootouts put more butts in seats.

So suddenly we can't defend even though we defend at an historic level for months? I don't find that plausible at all.

Yeah I know it doesn't make sense, but it seems more plausible than to say all our opponents are riding an unreal streak of luck for about a month and a half now. We are 27th in DRTG going back 15 games now. I mean are our opponents really getting THAT lucky?

We don't seem to be defending the PNR that well, opponents are protecting the ball better leading to less turnovers (which makes our offensive streak all the more amazing), Billys new staggered rotations leads us with some defensive blackholes for opponents to attack most of the game that weren't there before. WB seems to have dropped off defensively as has Adams.

I find it disappointing and perplexing, but it is what it is. Is this keeps going on until the playoffs will you think differently?

Also, I do think there's a connection between our offensive explosion and defensive slump. I have no idea what it is, but it's obviously inversely correlated. I don't know if it's causal but it is an oddity.