Although the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Warriors last week they still are a struggling team.
The Thunder can’t find a way to stop losing close games just like the 99-98 defeat to the Detroit Pistons on Friday proved. A day later they lost to the 4-15 Dallas Mavericks as Paul George and Carmelo Anthony combined for just 18 points.
Despite adding those two All-Stars to play with Russell Westbrook the Thunder are 0-9 in games decided by eight points or fewer, which is the worst record in the NBA.
Astonishingly OKC is 8-11 and has lost four the last five games despite being the overall number two in the league defensively.
The Chemistry between their big three is clearly not there and thus they haven’t jelled yet into a cohesive offensive system. They click as a team only at times (like against the Warriors) and depend a lot on individual feats from mostly Westbrook to defeat their opponents.
Until that happens the Thunder will have to ride their defense to win games. If they find a way to make everything flow from their defense and use it to get points off fast breaks they could eventually start playing with more confidence on the offensive side of the floor.
They must find their offensive identity and stop debating who should be taking the shots. Just take what the opponent gives you and go from there.
Head coach Billy Donovan will eventually manage to organize his team’s attack. He will eventually find the right scheme to run on offense and Westbrook will figure how to best execute it on the floor along “Melo” and George and how to best utilize them.
The Thunder are incredibly talent-rich and they have the tools to figure this out, and while it’s way too soon in the NBA season to panic, it is time to make some decisions.
They must learn to play more team-oriented and motion-based basketball, because teams in the NBA teams don’t win games by using isolation plays as their main offensive resource.
