Excellent win. After being down 16-4, they outscored the Jazz 105-75 over the next 40 minutes (+31 NetRtG). I don't care much for the ending, but at that point the game was over.
After the rough start initially, I think the defensive gameplan was working very, very well. Since Gobert came back, the Jazz were averaging 307 passes per game, 28 assists adjusted per game and 427 touches per game. Yesterday? 276 passes, 24 assists adjusted and 398 touches. They only took 22 pull up FGA per game, yet yesterday they took 27.
The team did an excellent job taking them out of rhythm and forcing their worst offensive players to make plays: Rubio with a 31 USG% is probably the best that can happen for the Thunder. 18 USG% for Crowder is also a very good sign that the defensive gameplan was working. Meanwhile Ingles was only 8th (!!!) on their team in USG%. The Jazz are 25-25 in the RS when his USG% is below 17 %. I think this 'just let George take him out of plays' strategy worked really well. Since Gobert came back, Ingles averaged 53 touches per game: Yesterday he had 40.
Now with regards to the 'Yeah, but if the Jazz shoot better' replies: That's a direct result of the Thunder's defensive gameplan. They Mitchell as probably the one guy who can create shots for himself and others. He played well. Other than that, they heavily rely on their system getting them good looks. They basically rely on 5 guys for their outside shooting: Mitchell, who has shot 33.2 % from 3 since Gobert came back, Ingles, whom they took out of the game, Crowder, who's shooting 31.6 % from 3 with the Jazz, Rubio, who's a 32.5 % career 3pt shooter, and Jerebko, who's just taking two 3s a game. So when you force the non-shooters to make shots, this is what happens. And let's not act like they were bricking left and right: 39.3 % from 3 is still very good.
With regards to shooting, this is also interesting: Per stats.nba.com, they shot 34 contested shots and made 18; we took 32 contested shots and made 12th. They took 53 uncontested shots and made 23 (and again: The defensive gameplan forced this - Rubio and Crowder got 20 of those 53 and made 4); we took 53 uncontested shots and made 29. Closest defender breakdown:
Very tight: OKC 4-8 | UTA 5-7
Tight: OKC 16-28 | UTA 18-27
Open: OKC 14-29 | UTA 11-26
Wide Open: OKC 7-13 | UTA 7-22
Again: It matters who's taking the shots. Rubio+Crowder were 3-18 on open and wide open shots (11 of them were 3s). Meanwhile, Anthony, George and Abrines went 12-20 on open and wide open 3s. They didn't make our worst shooters shoot - we did with theirs.
Which brings me to the offense: It was very good to see George going off like this. He won't be able to do this all postseason long, but just making shots is so important. And it's not like this is new or whatever: Before the ASB, he was shooting 45.4 % on open and wide open 3s. He's very capable of making those. His shot just left him after the break, but I do hope it's back and here to stay.
Generally though, they are going to have to find ways to score without relying on the pull ups so much. 36 pull ups compared to 26 attempts at the rim is not a good enough balance. Russ was very hesitant in the PnR and threw some dangerous passes behind the role man. Even with Gobert on the bench, they weren't really going at them. Russ making some jumpers changed how much Gobert hang back, but they still need to find ways to attack the rim. I'd like to see them use Grant a little bit more, just to put some pressure on them.
Shoutout to Melo btw. I know his % don't look all that great, but I think he played well. Timely buckets, 3 steals, 2 blocks. I didn't like the isos against Favors though: Pick your spots with that.
Abrines also continues to impress. His defense has improved and he's been making shots at a very high rate. Since that loss to Houston in March, he's shooting 47.8 % from 3 (22/46) in 16 games. Maybe he's not dead money afterall.
"I don't know of any player that, when the shot goes up, he doesn't want it to go in," Donovan said
