Thunder Need Joe to Find Rhythm in Crucial Stretch of Season

For much of the 2022-23 campaign the Thunder have relied heavily on Isaiah Joe for their 3-point shooting, but in the most crucial stretch of the season he’s struggled to find rhythm.

Joe has been a surprise catalyst off of the bench for the Thunder this season. A late off-season acquisition, he has had a breakout season as one of the league's top shooters, but in OKC’s last recent losing stretch he’s been inconsistent at best.

For the season Joe is a 40.8% shooter from beyond the arc, and had one of his best stretches about a week ago, when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was injured. After posting a career high 33 points on March 28 against the Hornets where he made 6-of-11 3-point shots, Joe went ice cold.

He didn’t make a 3-point shot in the two games following that 33-point outburst, going a combined 0-for-15 from deep. He then followed that with a 1-for-3 performance on Sunday against the Suns making him 1-for-18 over the last three games before his 2-for-3 night on Tuesday.

Joe needed a successful night shooting the ball, after the bad 1-for-18 stretch. The Thunder need a consistent high volume 3-point shooter to help maintain their high offensive production they’ve seen this season. For much of the season Joe used his resurgence to see the OKC perimeter shooting improve dramatically from a season ago. OKC is currently sitting just inside of the play-in game and with high scoring contests being the norm for this team, the Thunder need to have their best scorers firing on all cylinders in the final two matchups of the season.

During the Thunder’s three-game losing streak the team is a mere 26-94 (27.6%) from beyond the arc. Oklahoma City's offense, while still scoring at a high level inside the arc, has failed to keep up late in games due to the cold streak from 3-point range.

The Thunder have contests against the Jazz and Grizzlies remaining this season as they search for a postseason berth, with OKC sitting above both of those teams in 3-point shooting.

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