Thunder Must Do Better at Defending the Paint in Playoffs
Oklahoma City took down Dallas in an exciting nationally televised game on Thursday night. Although Luka Doncic was out, Kyrie Irving made up for his absence with an unbelievable performance. The Thunder needed every bucket down the stretch to hold off the Mavericks.
The team has now won four of its last five and the offense has been clicking. The only loss came in disappointing fashion at home against the Indiana Pacers, and it highlighted one of the Thunder's biggest weaknesses moving forward.
Despite many thinking rebounding is this teams biggest short coming, giving up points in the paint has been a big problem as of late.
For the most part this season, Oklahoma City has done a great job protecting the rim. Despite not having a true power forward or a big name backup center, the Thunder ranks fifth in the NBA in fewest paint points allowed.
Over the last two games however, it has been a big problem. And beyond that, it feels like every time Oklahoma City has a spiraling loss, it happens because of the performance under the basket.
On Thursday night, the rebounding battle wasn’t outrageous, as Oklahoma City lost 40-34. But Dallas registered 52 points in the paint, well above the Thunder’s season average given up. For the second game in a row against OKC, Daniel Gafford had a dominant showing and was a thorn in the Thunder’s side. He’s a physical center, sure, but Oklahoma City could be seeing the likes of Nikola Jokic and Anthony Davis in the playoffs, too.
Gafford torched the Thunder for 19 points and 15 rebounds in just 26 minutes, doing all of his work inside the paint.
The game against Indiana was much worse, as the Thunder gave up paint points in bunches. The Pacers scored 72 points in the paint compared to Oklahoma City’s 52, and center Myles Turner tallied 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Chet Holmgren is doing his best, but only averaging 1.0 block in the last eight games.
Oklahoma City’s defense is at its best when flying around and forcing turnovers. In the playoffs, that will be the recipe for success. If the game slows down and teams are able to get what they want in the paint, it could be tough sledding for the Thunder.
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