Oklahoma City Needs Isaiah Joe Back on Track for Playoff Run
The Thunder's sharpshooter has been in an extended slump and is looking to break out of it sooner rather than later.
Oklahoma City has had a big month of March as a team. With the brutal stretch of games coming up, the Thunder really needed to take care of business, and that’s exactly what the team has done.
It has taken significant performances from a handful of different players, including a 35-point outing from Chet Holmgren, big time games by Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and solid bench production. Over the next few weeks, Oklahoma City will be gunning for the No. 1 seed, and considering the difficulty of the schedule, it’ll be all hands on deck.
Bench production will be a key factor down the stretch and into the playoffs. Teams have already shown signs of how Gilgeous-Alexander will be defended, and it feels like opponents will force the supporting cast to beat them. Selling out to stop SGA should be a common theme in the postseason, and it has already worked for a handful of teams post All-Star break. That’s why it’s so important for bench players to step up.
Throughout the first few months of the season, Gilgeous-Alexander’s best running mate was Isaiah Joe, as teams simply couldn’t stop the ghost screen and pop. Joe was knocking down triples at an absurd rate, and opponents had to pick between taking away SGA’s drive or allowing Joe a wide open triple. Down the stretch and in the playoffs, Joe has to find his way back on track for Oklahoma City to reach its potential.
It hasn’t been devastating in the win/loss column, but Joe’s slump has been noticeable. Over the last 10 games, he’s shooting 4.4 3-pointers a game and converting at just 27.3% from long range. It’s a far cry from the near 50% mark he was at to start the season. Looking at a larger sample size, Joe is shooting just 32.8% from distance since the All-Star break.
Joe was counted on to play heavy minutes early on in the season, but since the break he’s only getting 17 minutes a night. Cason Wallace is averaging 20 minutes post break, and Gordon Hayward is at just over 17 minutes. Oklahoma City needs to count on Joe for heavy minutes once again and he needs to provide elite floor spacing.
This isn’t the first slump Joe has gone through over the past two years with the Thunder. He usually always finds his way out of it. If he can break the cold stretch before the playoffs and return to his old form, Oklahoma City’s offense will be humming.
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