featured-image

Takeaways from Opening Night

LOS ANGELES – Through some of the inevitabilities of opening night – the rust, the miscommunications, and the sloppiness, the signs were there on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors. The Thunder has a chance to be an elite, disruptive defense this season.

With Dennis Schröder in place of Russell Westbrook in the starting lineup as the latter returns in the near future from injury, the Thunder displayed a vision of what it can be in the 2018-19 campaign against the champions from the 2017-18 season. With a relentless wave of highly athletic, intelligent and bouncy players, one collective attribute stands above the rest: wingspan.

“Our length is the key,” said Schröder. “When Russ comes back, and (Andre) Roberson, on the defensive end I think we’re really special. It’s hard to score on us when everybody is out there and everybody is healthy.”

“We are more than capable of being a top defensive team in the league with what we have right now,” added forward Jerami Grant. “We have a lot length. We have a lot of athleticism and also we drill it every day in practice. We just try to disrupt the game however we can.”

The Thunder utilized their immutable characteristics on defense on Tuesday in the 108-100 loss by forcing 20 turnovers and holding the Warriors to 44.2 percent shooting, including a 7-for-29 mark from the three-point line. The attempt numbers are pivotal to understanding the Thunder’s desired gameplan on defense. Of the Warriors’ 95 field goal attempts on opening night, 21 came on non-paint two-point jumpers – the least efficient shot in the game.

“Pretty much our whole team is long and athletic. We’re trying to put as much pressure as possible,” said rookie Hamidou Diallo. “That’s the goal, to force tough two’s.”

“We’ll take that over the alternative of giving them wide open threes or wide open looks in general,” George said. “That’s what our defense was about, trying to force them into length and make them take tough shots.”

One player who looked like he will be able to hang athletically for the Thunder, particularly on defense, is rookie Hamidou Diallo. The University of Kentucky product impressed coaches and teammates during the preseason, and he stepped in during his 8:37 of action on Tuesday and made his first field goal attempt, pitching in 4 points, a rebound, an assist and a steal. He was also part of a defensive effort that held Klay Thompson to 5-of-20 shooting, although the Warriors’ All-Star marksman had a few wide-open looks that just didn’t go down.

“It was a great experience for Hami just from the standpoint of he’s guarding Thompson. There’s a lot of movement, a lot of cleverness to him, pushing off and using screens, curling, fading,” Donovan noted.

“Great player,” Diallo said of Thompson. “They run some great sets for him. I just have to go and watch film and get better at that.”

At one point during the game, Diallo went to the bench and sat down next to injured guard Andre Roberson, one of the pre-eminent defenders in the entire NBA. The Thunder’s ace lockdown man showed leadership and was in Diallo’s ear, giving him a few tips to utilize as the game progressed.

“I’m just learning at all times - learning defensive habits and learning how to guard these high-level players,” said Diallo. “Andre is a guy who has been guarding the top guys in the league for a couple years now, so I was just taking his pointers and he definitely gave me some good pointers to help me in the second half.”

One area where the Thunder as a unit learned from in practice at UCLA on Wednesday was defensive rebounding  The Warriors racked up 20 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second chance points as the Thunder rebounded just 62 percent of Golden State’s misses - a statistic Donovan pointed to as a major contributing factor in the loss  

“We had two contesting a lot and let the big run to the basket,” Grant said. “We gotta box out.”

News & Notes

-       With two full days before the Thunder’s next game against the LA Clippers on Friday, Donovan had his team go through a mental rather than physical practice on Wednesday. After the team’s film session, the players got on the court for a walk through and scripted 5-on-0 sets  There is at present no further injury update to provide. 

-       Forward Jerami Grant came off the bench to play 29 minutes for the Thunder on Tuesday night and reprised his role as a dynamic, do-a-little-of-everything player on both ends of the floor. In a transition back to playing more of the power forward from seeing a ton of time at center last season, Grant is getting situated to find appropriate opportunities to be aggressive. He scored 7 points on 2-of-7 shooting, including 4 three-point attempts and chipped in 3 blocks and 2 assists, but Donovan believes that Grant’s downhill attacks at the basket need to be a more prominent component, and that the coaching staff can help him in that department.

  • “They were good ones,” Donovan said in regard to Grant’s three-point attempts. “But I still think when he’s attacking the basket and playing along the baseline and doing some of those other things, he needs to get that part into his game a little bit more.”
  • “He was rolling all last year,” Donovan said, explaining Grant’s position shift from screening 5-man last season. “We gotta try to create a little bit more of those opportunities for him where he can be a little bit more balanced between inside and out.”

-       Second-year guard Terrance Ferguson got the start at shooting guard. He didn’t score in his 26 minutes but attempted only two field goals during that time. Ferguson chased Klay Thompson and other Warriors guards around the perimeter all night and was mostly in the right spot as he tried to force his assignment into difficult looks.

  • “He’s reliable. He doesn’t care about shooting or scoring. He just tries to focus on playing defense,” Donovan said of Ferguson. “He didn’t get many shots but hopefully we can find different ways to free him up and get different looks.”