Broadcast Information
- Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. CT
- Television: Fox Sports Oklahoma
- Radio: WWLS the Sports Animal and the Thunder Radio Network
MINNEAPOLIS – The ping-pong match on the schedule has ended. The Thunder bounced from Oklahoma City to Denver, back home and then out to San Antonio and back for the second night of a back-to-back. What lays ahead now is a 7-day, 4-game, 3 time-zone road trip, and a challenging one at that as it features three Northwest Division opponents, starting with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Northwest Division is the best in basketball this season, with all five teams holding at least 29 wins so far, including Minnesota despite currently sitting in the 12th position in the Western Conference. At 29-34, the Timberwolves would be in 9th in the Eastern Conference, duking it out for a playoff spot. So far in this matchup the Thunder has lost both games but by just two points in each game. The issue for the Thunder was defense as it allowed Minnesota 43.1 percent three-point shooting and Andrew Wiggins averaged 35 points per game in the pair of battles.
The Thunder’s defense made a correction on Sunday night against Memphis in that harrowing 99-95 home victory, and regardless of how the offense goes Head Coach Billy Donovan knows that his defense will have to hang in there and deliver for all 48 minutes. With the recent absence of Paul George (sore shoulder) and the integration of Markieff Morris into the rotation, there’s been some growing pains on defense that the Thunder will need to keep an eye on in Minneapolis.
“We have to create a defensive identity regardless. We have to defend at a high level every single night,” said Donovan. “We've got different lineups out there [and] different guys playing together that are not used to playing with one another and they're trying to form and create chemistry and a bond on the court.”
Over the past four games, and particularly since George has been out in the last three, the Thunder has struggled to generate high quality offense, shooting below 46 percent from the field in all four contests. The MVP candidate obviously has a massive impact on the game with not only his own scoring, but the freedom he provides teammates like Steven Adams, Terrance Ferguson and Jerami Grant to get high percentage looks.
On the road, the Thunder will have to find efficient ways to put the ball in the basket beyond just attacking in transition, where the Thunder scored 24 of its 99 points on Sunday. Being better in the halfcourt at knocking down catch-and-shoot three-pointers, catching and finishing cleanly in the paint and most vitally, making free throws, could help provide this Thunder team with the extra 6-8 points that it had been needing during this post All-Star stretch.
“I have to try and find a way to keep helping our guys offensively, in terms of trying to create an identity with (George) being out,” said Donovan. “We have to generate good shots and then we have to shoot the ball with confidence.' That's it. And we'll live with the results if we can defend at a high level.”
1-on-1: Steven Adams
SHOOTAROUND NOTES
- Paul George will be a game time decision after doing more today at shootaround this morning than he had in past days. Donovan will likely reveal more about his status about 90 minutes before tonight’s 7 p.m. CT tip-off. Regardless of who is on the floor for the Thunder, the team will have to be locked in defensively against a Timberwolves squad that doesn’t turn the ball over (4th in the NBA at just 13.3 turnovers per game) and makes the fourth-most free throws per game.
- “We’re going to have to do a great job in a lot of different areas. They’ve always been a really good offensive team,” said Donovan. “The way they generate and manufacture points is a lot of different ways. They do it in isolation situations, they do it on offensive rebounding, they do it from the free throw line and they do it with post ups. That’s what makes a good offensive team is when you can score in a multitude of ways.”
- “You gotta rebound the ball, you gotta play post defense, you gotta guard the ball one on one and you gotta try to keep them off the free throw line,” summarized Donovan.
- Over the last few games the Thunder hasn’t gotten off to the starts it would like to, falling behind in the first quarter of games and having to claw back into them. While all four quarters are vital, players like Wiggins are often aided by easy scores in the first quarter and perform much better throughout the night if they see a few shots go down early. The numbers show that the Thunder would do well to deliver the first punch against Minnesota as well. So far this season the Thunder is 25-5 when leading after the first quarter but just 10-17 when trailing. On the road, those numbers are equally stark, with the Thunder 11-3 when leading after one and just 4-10 when trailing.
- “It’s important to play well for the full 48 minutes,” said Donovan. “Obviously you want to start the game well, every team wants too do that, but I think with the number of possessions in an NBA game there are going to be runs back and forth and there’s gonna be momentum swings. You gotta be able to handle those things and self-correct.”
Watch: Game Preview
NEWS & NOTES
- The primary player who will be charged with generating offense for the entire team is Russell Westbrook, whose ability to get a head of steam all the way to the rim is sometimes limited when opponents pack the paint as stiffly as the Grizzlies and others have done lately. As a result, Westbrook has been setting up his teammates for catch-and-shoot looks but has also taken more jump shots as well. Over the last five games, Westbrook has attempted 44 three-point attempts, making 13 of them for an average of 29.5 percent. While he hopes to knock down a higher clip moving forward, the team trusts him to hit the ones that count, like he did with 1:04 to go against Memphis on Sunday.
- “(Westbrook) is going to have to take some shots and when does make those shots he's been so lethal for his entire career,” said Donovan. “He's reading defense and trying to read what’s going and trying to, in a way, manipulate the game to do what he needs to do.”
- “We want anybody to shoot the ball if they’re open and have the confidence,” said Ferguson. “That’s the way we play, and we don’t want to take away from that.”
- Coming into Sunday’s Grizzlies game, the Thunder had lost four straight games, including five out of six games dating back to a road loss to the New Orleans Pelicans just before the All-Star Break. For many teams with either younger rosters, poor cultures, or different leadership, that type of slide at this stage of the season could have been foundation-shattering. This Thunder organization always keeps its work and how it needs to improve in-house and shows support for one another rather than playing the blame game. The result was an outstanding 13-point comeback victory thanks to a 23-6 finish to the Memphis win and a breath of fresh air for the team as a whole.
- “You’ve got to be able to move to the next possession, the next play, and do your job at a high level,” said Donovan. “Everybody goes through adversity, everybody goes through struggles, it’s never any easy road for any player because of the level of talent and competitiveness. But, the guys that have high-level talent, to me, what separates them is how they handle adversity, both personally and collectively as a team.”
- “I love that we’re staying together. We’re not pointing any fingers. We’re a good group of guys that likes to compete and just coming on this road stretch, trying to get every win possible,” Ferguson added. “There’s going to be runs from other teams, so just staying together and just playing Thunder basketball.”