2/23 | G59: Sacramento Kings at Oklahoma City Thunder - 7PM CST

[NaturalThunder]

We tried fouling them 128 times before they actually called it!

[Dadouv47]

Don't feel good about this. We missed too many shots tonight.

[Dadouv47]

Damn

[NaturalThunder]

I mean, at least we came back and made it a game but...

Why can't we beat the Kings? This is a borderline playoff team and the three times they've been fully healthy when they played us, they've beat us and controlled us pretty much the entire game.

[Dadouv47]

Well at least Russel Westbrook is back (with all the good and bad that comes with that)

[Thundershock88]

Refs make this game unwatchable sometimes.

[Old Man Game]

Was a bad call. Would rather a non call than the call the dude made.

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[Old Man Game]

Ferguson is having a very good year but after watching Donovan Mitchell and Hield killing him, that's when you miss Roberson

YEP

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[Dadouv47]

Westbrook is ''peaking'' (this season). Let's rest Adams and PG13 for the remainder of the regular season...we finish 6th or 7th but start the playoffs with a fresh squad (I like our chances better than one game with HCA and players being very tired)

[slick_watts]

so the sample sizes here are getting comparable that this is getting strange, and the ultimate strength of this team is impossible to tell.

first 28 games this year the thunder were one of the best defenses of all time, -7.3pp100 relative to league average. 7th best since 1979. in the 21 games since, the thunder are 22nd in the nba, a smidge ahead of houston during that period.

that's an insane thing on its own but the offense switching gears almost precisely in the same timeframe makes it even more unusual.

is it schematic? scouting? injuries? did the thunder have insane luck to start the year? bad luck the last 21? what's the connection with the offense, if any?

the team will struggle to get out of the 1st round imo with the defense playing at this level. had the thunder not started out at a historic pace we'd probably be 10-15 ranked defense on the year right now instead of hanging onto top 5 by a thread.

[Osirus89]

As much as I hated that shot Russ took in the last minute of the game... I can only get so irritated because he carried the team and was one of the few that seemed to still have energy. Hard game to win against a rested Sac team and it was still winnable.

The Denver game will be big. Hopefully PG will have more of his legs under him because that altitude will be no joke. The great news though is Russ seems to be "actually" back now and not the "kinda" back that he was earlier in the season that would last about one game.

I mean, at least we came back and made it a game but...

Why can't we beat the Kings? This is a borderline playoff team and the three times they've been fully healthy when they played us, they've beat us and controlled us pretty much the entire game.

Every game this year except the one that we beat them has been under weird circumstances.
1st meeting was Russell's first game after the birth and surgery in the offseason
2nd meeting was his first game back from the ankle injury
3rd meeting OKC wins
This meeting was after the Utah 2OT game b2b

Bad luck against the kings this year. At least the game was close. Looked like they might have been out of it in the third quarter.

[RunOKC]

1 of 82 on a B2B

Have to make up for it against Denver and Philly and find a way to get W's

[Old Man Game]

so the sample sizes here are getting comparable that this is getting strange, and the ultimate strength of this team is impossible to tell.

first 28 games this year the thunder were one of the best defenses of all time, -7.3pp100 relative to league average. 7th best since 1979. in the 21 games since, the thunder are 22nd in the nba, a smidge ahead of houston during that period.

that's an insane thing on its own but the offense switching gears almost precisely in the same timeframe makes it even more unusual.

is it schematic? scouting? injuries? did the thunder have insane luck to start the year? bad luck the last 21? what's the connection with the offense, if any?

the team will struggle to get out of the 1st round imo with the defense playing at this level. had the thunder not started out at a historic pace we'd probably be 10-15 ranked defense on the year right now instead of hanging onto top 5 by a thread.

It should be noted, they're playing worse defensive players too. Nader is not good at defense. Even a little bit. They're running him out there several minutes a night. That's not everything wrong with it but its not nothing.

[Pillendreher]

Man, **** this. All season long these bum ass bitches never have never missed against us. They have made at least 10 shots each **** game that have absolutely no business going in. And then of course the refs take over. **** that.

[Pillendreher]

so the sample sizes here are getting comparable that this is getting strange, and the ultimate strength of this team is impossible to tell.

first 28 games this year the thunder were one of the best defenses of all time, -7.3pp100 relative to league average. 7th best since 1979. in the 21 games since, the thunder are 22nd in the nba, a smidge ahead of houston during that period.

that's an insane thing on its own but the offense switching gears almost precisely in the same timeframe makes it even more unusual.

is it schematic? scouting? injuries? did the thunder have insane luck to start the year? bad luck the last 21? what's the connection with the offense, if any?

the team will struggle to get out of the 1st round imo with the defense playing at this level. had the thunder not started out at a historic pace we'd probably be 10-15 ranked defense on the year right now instead of hanging onto top 5 by a thread.

It should be noted, they're playing worse defensive players too. Nader is not good at defense. Even a little bit. They're running him out there several minutes a night. That's not everything wrong with it but its not nothing.

They haven't been great without him on the floor either though. He has been getting rotation minutes for two months now. Our defense with him on the floor has just been 1.3 pp100p worse than with him off. That's barely noticeable.

Through the first 38 games, we allowed 102.6 pp100p. Since then, we've allowed 114.2 pp100p. I know I've said that teams have been making bs shots they haven't been making before, but we're at the point where that just isn't a good explanation anymore.



On the season, our defensive numbers since the first Portland win would rank as follows:

-3rd most allowed oppFGA at the rim
-8th lowest oppFG% at the rim
-10th most allowed Corner 3s
-13th highest oppFG% on Corner 3s
-9th fewest allowed Above the break 3s
-2nd highst oppFG% on Above the break 3s

At some point, you just have to clean this **** up. I know that it's ridiculous when random player xy drains a bull shot in your face (best example last night: The guy named Yogi takes a horrible transition pull up 3 and makes it), but you can't just act like you live that. At least make it difficult for opponents when they take those trash shots. Defense has to be more than hoping that the other guy misses.

Through the first 38 games, stats.nba.com has opponents shooting 1.3 % points worse than expected on 2s and 1.9 % points worse than expected on 3s. Since then, opponents have 1.9 % points better than expected from 2 and 2.0 % points better than expected from 3. Some of that is variance, but most of it isn't. Team defense influences what kind of shots opposing teams take and how difficult those are. We just haven't done that with any sort of consistency lately.

[DoubleJ13]

Presti needs to find another wing of the FA scrap heap, if nothing else I'd take Brewer back. Nader has done more than I ever expected but he's bad on defense & Donovan doesn't fully trust him, Hami & Burton are rookies so their all over the place, & Robes is a mystery. Plus PG could use someone that could soak up just a couple minutes from him.

[ThunderBolt]

Funny how earlier in the season that kings fans didn’t seem interested in trading Bjelica for Ferguson. His minutes have continued to dwindle since that time and now he’s getting DNPs. He would have been a nice fit but I wouldn’t do that trade now.

[JustOneFix]

I just can't comprehend how can a guy like Russ, who's been in this league for over a decade, can still make idiotic decisions with under minute to go over and over again. Tie game, 30 seconds left and a possesion. And what does he do? A quick jumper in the first second of a possesion, of the backourt with a man in his face and with nobody down low to grab the rebound. An imbecile would do better. There were at least 5 better scenarios he could go after. He could have played one on and one and took it to the hole (giving him a chance to get fouled or grabbed his own miss), he could have set the offense and use the clock, he could have gave it to George, he could have done a six millions of other things....but no, he decided to crash the backboard with idiotic, difficult pull up jumper which of course was nowhere near and as a result he gave the Kings the ball right away.

Just a imbecile decision that ruined everything great he has done till that point.

[Pillendreher]

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He's done this a couple of times now lately and I still find it irritating (for lack of a better word) because it sounds like he's pleading with his players through the media to care about defense. How do you go from being historically good to "Guys, please care about the other side of the floor" within a couple of games?!

[hardenASG13]

Ferguson is having a very good year but after watching Donovan Mitchell and Hield killing him, that's when you miss Roberson :(

YEP

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Yea, Roberson NEVER got lit up by guys like that.....all the time during the course of a season :roll: