OKC Thunder Still Slowing Stars Without Lu Dort

The Dorture Chamber is far from the only way the Thunder force opposing stars into a rough night offensively.

Throughout the past few seasons, the Thunder’s defense has been the identity of the team, with everything starting on that end. With the philosophy of forcing turnovers and getting out in transition, the Thunder have steadily become one of the best teams in the league.

Along with playing great defense as a unit, Oklahoma City’s defense has benefitted mightily from its anchor. Lu Dort has almost always been the guy to stick with the top perimeter players on the other team and has gained plenty of recognition for that.

From being noted as one of the toughest defenders to play against by his peers to nearly earning an All-Defensive selection last season, Dort has been nothing short of spectacular on that end.

However, Oklahoma City has to endure the grind of an 82-game season, which means Dort will inevitably get banged up with his physical playstyle and sometimes be unavailable. Saturday’s game in Memphis marked the second straight Dort has missed with back spasms and created a clear challenge for the league’s best defense, which was also missing second-year defensive standout Cason Wallace.

Against one of the league’s top offenses, Oklahoma City was tasked with slowing Memphis’ electric leader, Ja Morant. A matchup Dort would likely have had if healthy couldn’t be passed onto Wallace either.

Instead, Alex Caruso took the matchup head-on and, along with the rest of the Thunder, found ways to disrupt him and his team’s offense all night in the half-court, but particularly in transition. Morant finished the night with 16 points on 6-of-19 shooting after scoring 25 and 26 in his past two games.

A night earlier, the Thunder were able to handle Toronto Raptors’ star Scottie Barnes. The young star’s final stats looked fine, with 21 points on 8-of-20 shooting, but his five turnovers were crippling to his team’s chances of winning.

While Dort’s defense on the league’s brightest stars has been critical to the Thunder’s play on that end, Oklahoma City has plenty of capable defenders and can overcome the absence of its top one-on-one stoppers.

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