The shooting from the perimeter will come around eventually. Some three-point makes by Alex Abrines, Patrick Patterson and Jerami Grant could be a precursor of things to come. The core, big-picture principles of the defense, it seems, have been mostly ironed out, with the way the Thunder stifled the Boston Celtics in the first half on Thursday.
The crucial area for the Thunder heading into Sunday’s home game against the Phoenix Suns comes down to two of the most basic, fundamental aspects of the game – free throw shooting and fouling.
Through four games, the Thunder is last in the NBA in free throw shooting, at 64.3 percent, despite having players up and down the roster who have proven themselves to be reliable free throw shooters over the years. On Thursday, the Thunder left 11 points on the table from free throws alone, including 10-of-16 shooting (62.5 percent) combined from Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Dennis Schroder and Alex Abrines, all of whom shoot above 80 percent from the stripe in their careers.
On the other end of the floor, the Thunder must avoid the silly fouls – ones off the ball like when Jerami Grant crashed into Marcus Morris on an offensive rebound attempt or one of the many off ball fouls committed by the Thunder in the fourth quarter. The Celtics attempted 18 of their 33 free throws in the 4th quarter alone, which allowed Boston to stop the clock and get their defense set up too.
“It’s not that we’re trying to bleed the clock, but you weren’t even making them score,” Head Coach Billy Donovan noted. “They’re not even having to cross halfcourt. They’re just going down there and - free throws, free throws, free throws. That was a problem.”
“There are going to be fouls that are going to happen in the game, just through the game where there’s physical conflict and guys are into each other,” Donovan continued. The ones that we gotta eliminate are the ones where they can be totally avoidable.”
Watch: Practice Report - Oct. 26
Despite a defensive effort that held Boston to just 38.4 percent shooting – a lower number than the Thunder’s own percentage – the Celtics got loose from behind the three-point arc in the third quarter, hitting nine in the period alone. Some were from not staying attached on defense, going under screens or simply dying on them.
A few Boston triples came from over-helping in the lane. In many ways that’s an attempt to assist a teammate, crashing across to stop a penetrating ball-handler, but the Thunder has rules based on the opposition’s strengths as to who may come over in helpside defense, and when. For the integrity of the team’s defensive schemes, those rules must be followed.
“It’s all personnel-based, who you can help off of, who you can load off of, where you can clog up the lane,” Donovan explained, before referencing the strategy when guarding a high-level shooter. “We’ve got to be out further toward the three-point line, we’re not going to be able to do that (help) as much off of him, and we want to take away any sort of catch-and-shoot situation.”
The Thunder can’t get out there and play right away, though it is chomping at the bit to do so, and to garner that elusive first win of the season. With just four games in the first 12 days of the NBA calendar, there has been a lot of waiting for the Thunder before it’s next opportunity to right their wrongs. For now, until Sunday evening, the only thing the team can do is practice – assess film, then put themselves in scenarios they might see on the court. Whether that’s stopping a halting an up-and-down scrimmage to take free throws or to test the strength of the team’s communication on defense, Donovan and his staff are doing all they can to prepare the group and sharpen areas that need improvement.
“You just try to work on those things that are creating a problem on the film and then you try show them to the guys and then get on the court and try to work on them,” Donovan said.
“You create situations that are random where they have to spontaneously communicate as things are happening,” Donovan added. “They generally get better when it’s live and more random.”
News & Notes
- On Thursday, Donovan started Jerami Grant in place of Patrick Patterson at the power forward spot. Donovan explained that with Boston’s lineup of Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford, it made more sense for the Thunder to play smaller and quicker in the starting group and a bit bigger with Patterson in the reserves. As always, who starts, who plays at which times and who finishes games are all at the discretion of the coaches each night.
- “For us it’s going to be game-to-game in terms of the roster and having a plan of how to utilize those guys,” Donovan said.
- One player who stood out in his performance off the bench against Boston was Alex Abrines, who played 18 effective minutes despite being sidelined from practice most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Abrines knocked down two clutch three-pointers and also held up pretty well defensively, forcing Irving into a contested miss on a jump shot and then directing the All-Star point guard to the baseline, where Irving hit an incredibly difficult 11-foot fallaway jumper. All in all, it was an encouraging performance from Abrines, particularly coming back from injury.
- “He’s done a nice job defensively from his rookie year till now in terms of improvements he’s made,” Donovan said.