OKC Thunder Use Transition Opportunities to Take Down Sacramento
A few hours before the Super Bowl, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings squared off in a battle between to of the top seven seeds in the Western Conference.
OKC, who had lost eight consecutive matchups against the Kings, finally ended its drought, defeating Sacramento 127-113.
One of the keys to the Thunder's victory on Sunday was scoring in transition, which head coach Mark Daigneault highlighted in his postgame press conference.
"Scoring allows you to set your defense, and stops allow you to run," Daigneault said. "It's more efficient to score in transition. You get a stop, you rebound, you run, now your efficiency goes up. You're more likely to score, if you're more likely to score you're more likely to set your defense. If you're more likely to set your defense, you're more likely to get a stop. You know, it's all cyclical."
This season, the Kings have averaged more than 118 points per game, but were held to just 113 on Sunday. Additionally, the Thunder forced 18 turnovers and recorded nine blocked shots against Sacramento.
Oklahoma City's defense also did an impressive job of playing defense without fouling, as the Kings took just 13 shots from the free throw line compared to 27 from Daigneault's squad.
After tallying 32 points, nine assists and eight rebounds against the Kings, second-year wing Jalen Williams also took note of how well the Thunder played in transition.
"Being able to get out in transition, I think puts a lot of pressure on a lot of defenses," Williams said in his postgame interview. "That opens up us being able to cut and play off of each other that way."
OKC scored 14 points in transition on Sunday against Sacramento, according to NBA.com, proving to be the difference in a contest that the Thunder ended up winning by 14.
If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company maintain their effort levels of defense and attack other teams in transition, they should continue to have success throughout the regular season.
Oklahoma City's final matchup before the All-Star break will be against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT, airing on TNT.
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