The Drive and Dish | Nov. 16, 2023

By Nick Gallo | Broadcast Reporter and Digital Editor | okcthunder.com

Disruptive Defense, The Extra Pass, Showing Faith, Leveraging Pressure and More!  

The Drive and Dish is here to answer the questions that might be going through your head during a Thunder game by providing experienced insight, highlighting aspects of the game you might have missed and pulling you behind the curtain with anecdotes, analysis, and stats.   

Here’s what you need to know as the Thunder heads back to the West Coast:  

The Thunder rattled off a game-changing 13-0 run to end the first half against the Spurs, fueled by repeated defensive stops and OKC run outs. The Thunder rattled off six straight stops, including three forced turnovers, and finished off nearly every possession with points to roll into halftime with a 10-point lead. After unlocking that defense to offense rhythm, the Thunder didn’t let its foot off the pedal all night, as it held San Antonio to 38.7 percent shooting, made 19 steals (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a career-high seven of them) and forced 25 turnovers in Tuesday night’s 123-87 In-Season Tournament win. 

On one early possession two nights earlier in a road win against the Phoenix Suns, the Thunder demonstrated just how versatile its defensive personnel can be. The Suns had a sideline out of bounds play, and a combination of Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Lu Dort all defended Kevin Durant before the ball was even inbounded as OKC continued to switch. The play ultimately ended with Holmgren blocking Suns center Jusuf Nurkic at the rim. Holmgren, by the way, was flat-footed on the court while he did it. 

Not only did the Thunder defend the rim, but OKC’s quickness and length was devastating in the passing lanes over the last four games. The Thunder forced Cleveland into 20 turnovers, Sacramento into 18 and Phoenix into 17 leading up to the 25 it forced on Tuesday. The Thunder has now won four of its last five games, thanks in large part to a tightened defensive approach.

The Thunder was running uphill all night in Sacramento, scratching and clawing to find some footing. Instead of splintering, the Thunder banded together to give itself a chance down the stretch. One subtle way of doing that is forgetting about the previous play, good or bad, and just trusting the game of basketball to tell you what play to make and what shot to take. 

Late in the fourth quarter, rookie Cason Wallace airballed a 3 from the right corner, but on the very next possession, Gilgeous-Alexander pushed the pace in transition and passed the ball to Wallace in the exact same spot. This time, the rookie nailed it. 

No matter what age you are, your experience level or your stature in the NBA, the Thunder tries to just trust the next man and put one another in positions to succeed. So far this season, Wallace has fit right into that philosophy, averaging 7.9 points on 65 percent shooting, including 55 percent from 3-point range.  

Opposing defenses are going to lock in on Gilgeous-Alexander as often as they can, not just with double teams, but by shading defensive coverages in ways that the Thunder can leverage for easy points. One clear example of the Thunder pulling the pressure release valve came in the fourth quarter in Sacramento. 

Jalen Williams acted like he was about to set a flare screen on Kevin Huerter, who was guarding Gilgeous-Alexander on the possession. Confused for just a moment about whether to fight over the screen to stay locked onto Shai or to switch, Huerter got caught on the top side, leaving Williams a pathway to dive to the rim. The man originally guarding Williams, Malik Monk, automatically switched onto Gilgeous-Alexander, which meant that not only was there no chance of Josh Giddey’s pass over the top getting interrupted, but the runway clear for JDub, to easily finish at the rim without any help defense in sight. 

The Thunder is learning how to execute against all different types of defenses in the early going of the season, and how to get downhill like it wants to regardless of the circumstance. A pair of plays in Phoenix demonstrated how the Thunder can work the defense to get high percentage looks. Going against a zone defense, Chet Holmgren set himself up just above the right elbow, drawing in the defender in the middle of the zone and a help man before firing right across the floor to Isaiah Joe for a wide-open catch and shoot 3. 

The other came in an open floor situation, but with a shot-blocker in Kevin Durant waiting at the rim. The Thunder used the type of overlapping cut that we’ve seen from this team over the past few years. Giddey drove right into the chest of Durant, and as he turned into a spin move, Lu Dort was cutting into the lane right in behind him for a hand off and an easy finish as Durant’s momentum was carrying him the completely wrong direction. 

Conventional basketball wisdom would suggest that a team not bring an extra defender into the lane by running a cutter right up the back of a driver, but the Thunder’s spontaneous cutting has kept defenders off balance, allowing these types of plays to work quite often. 

After playing an epic back and forth battle against the Golden State Warriors back home in Paycom Center earlier in the month, the Thunder will get a chance to learn from that experience with a pair of games in San Francisco against the 4-time NBA Champions. Depending on how things shake out in the play-in tournament, the Thunder’s mini-series against the Warriors could put a wrap on OKC’s meetings with Golden State this season. Look for how OKC adjusts from Thursday game and applies those lessons on Saturday, then turns the page for a divisional battle with the young Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night. 

Tonight’s game against the Warriors tips off at 9 p.m. CT, then the Thunder will get a rematch with Golden State on Saturday evening before finishing off the homestand with the second night of a back-to-back in Portland. Be sure to tune in on Bally Sports Oklahoma, follow along on our @okcthunder social accounts and stay here on the Thunder App or okcthunder.com.