Thunder's Defense Faltering at End of Season

In the most important games of the season, the Thunder's defense has gone silent as team's struggled down the stretch to defend other offenses.

The Thunder’s defense had been solid for much of the season, but as the season came to a close in the most important games the defense struggled to hold opponents and it came at a cost.

The Thunder dropped three of its last five games to close the season, and the main reason was the Thunder’s offense, while efficient, could not keep up with opponents as they continued to be put in high scoring shootouts. The OKC offense is much improved from a season ago, but is not built to survive shootouts each night out on the hardwood.

Oklahoma City’s opponents scored 116.6 points per game over the course of the team’s final five games of the season. In Thunder’s two wins in that stretch their opponents scored just 99 points on average, while they scored 128.3 points per game in the losses the team suffered in that same stretch.

For the season though the Thunder rank 13th in defensive efficiency, but 19th in opponents points per game with their opponents scoring 116.4 points per game this season. The Thunder’s record at the end of season shows a clear trend of success when their defense is clicking.

Despite the defensive downturn, the Thunder’s offense continues to find success, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his 30-plus points per game. Lu Dort has led the team’s defensive efforts, but in the final few weeks of the season his offense has taken a significant downward decline, which has affected his overall game play.

Oklahoma City’s next game comes against the New Orleans Pelicans in the 9-seed and 10-seed matchup in the Western Conference play-in tournament. The Pelicans though rank 20th in the league in offensive rating. The Thunder’s defense needs to be at the highest level as every game comes with increased importance.

A loss on Wednesday would mark the end of the season and the Thunder would move into the offseason, if OKC wants to have a chance to win against the Pelicans the defense must be able to defend the perimeter and turn the defense into offense. 

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