Thunder Look to Make Adjustments for Game Two

The Oklahoma City Thunder looks to make adjustments on both ends of the floor to even the series with the Rockets.

Nothing the Oklahoma City Thunder saw on film from their game one loss to Houston will make them feel any more positive about their performance. For as good as the Rockets were, there is no substitute for effort.  

What we saw on Tuesday was an uncharacteristic performance from one of the grittiest teams in the NBA.  For the Thunder, Thursday night is more about being themselves than it is about how the Rockets are executing their game plan. 

Dennis Schroder says, "We watched a lot of film from yesterday's game, and that's not how we play during the whole season."..."We gotta step it back up, trust each other on the defensive end, offensive end just play how we play."

When reporters tried to compliment the Thunder for doing anything right on Tuesday, Billy Donovan wasn't biting. 

" "The reality was we didn't play well enough."..."We didn't get back in transition."..,."We gave up 20 corner three-point shots."

"We allowed the ball to go by us off the dribble." We got stagnant in the half-court, we've just gotta play a lot better to our identity than what we did the other night." 

Read More: Billy Donovan Says Thunder Didn't Play Well Enough to win

If Adams doesn’t do this to PJ Tucker tonight I’m rioting #ThunderUp

pic.twitter.com/66Z7ymIYOZ

— OKC THUNDER UK (@_OKCUK) August 20, 2020

One big key for the Thunder this afternoon is to get Shai Gilgeous-Alexander involved in the offense earlier than they did on Tuesday. Gilgeous-Alexander, who is one of the Thunder's leading scorers, only had three shots by the end of the first half in game one.  

"Personally, I wasn't ready for how they [Rockets] loaded up and protected the paint."..."With a couple of adjustments going into game two and a little be more movement offensively, we'll be able to move them off their assigned slots."

The Thunder has had a day to digest everything; there's no excuse for being caught off guard in game two.

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With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.