Date: Oct. 25, 2019Tip-Off Time: 7 p.m. CTTelevision: Fox Sports OklahomaRadio: 98.1 FM WWLS the Sports Animal and the Thunder Radio Network
Thunder Status The Thunder will return to the confines of Chesapeake Energy Arena after a trip to Salt Lake City facing a formidable Jazz squad. After getting off to a slow start in the first quarter, the Thunder battled back in the second to make it a contest for the remaining three quarters with five ties and eight lead changes. Despite the breakout performance of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who finished the night with a career-high 26 points (the second most points by a Thunder player in their debut game), the Thunder still fell short in the final score of 100-95. While the end result might not reflect it, there were a few positive takeaways that the Thunder will carry with them back to Oklahoma City. For instance, three players on the Thunder roster finished with over 20 points: Gilgeous-Alexander, Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari who will all experience opening night in a Thunder uniform for the first time on Friday.
Opponent Breakdown Coming off of a similar result as the Thunder, the Wizards travel to OKC after falling to Dallas 100-108 on the road. Leading the charge offensively was Bradley Beal who finished the contest with 19 points and six rebounds. In addition to Beal, the Wizard’s front court boasts center, Thomas Bryant and rookie standout, Rui Hachimura who tallied a double-double in his NBA regular season debut with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Washington forward, Mortiz Wagner, another offensive staple for the Wizards, caught fire beyond the arc on Wednesday shooting 3-4 from the 3-point line and 4-5 from the field finishing the game with 13 points. Although the Wizards are playing without noted veteran guard, John Wall, the Wizards exhibit strong offensive potential radiating from its roster.
“They have a lot of talent,” said Danilo Gallinari. “They have some players that can score 30 points a game, and they have good, young players. A good mix. We’ll need to play a very good game to win against them.”
Matchup Focus Beal’s offensive firepower offers another test for the Thunder backcourt to contain on the defensive end. On Wednesday, the Thunder faced a similar high-caliber player in Donovan Mitchell who scored 32 points on the evening – 14 of which came in the fourth quarter. Whether it’s Gilgeous-Alexander, Terrance Ferguson and/or Hamidou Diallo with the Beal assignment, it will be one to keep an eye on to see what the Thunder learned from Wednesday’s matchup against Mitchell.
During Coach Donovan’s stint at the helm for the University of Florida, he spent some time with Beal during his collegiate career giving him insight into who the fellow Gator is as a player.
“The one thing about Brad is that he’s really, really smart. He is another guy, he’s got the ‘it’ factor. He’s got unbelievable intangibles and substance about him.”
Watch: Game Day Report
Stat to Watch Rebounding numbers. After Wednesday’s game against Utah, the Thunder was out rebounded on the offensive glass 11-7. Five of the Jazz’s 11 offensive boards came from Donovan Mitchell in the fourth quarter who often times was snagging his own miss. Owning the glass will be a big component going into Friday’s game against the Wizards and a tangible area of improvement moving forward.
“A couple of them were tough plays that Mitchell got back,” said Coach Donovan reflecting on the offensive rebounds that Mitchell grabbed. “We could have done a better job. Overall the rebounding, I think we rebounded defensively eighty percent of their misses. That was one stretch that hurt us but for the most part the rebounding was good.”
Thunder Trend The Thunder took a positive step on Wednesday in establishing their identity on the defensive end. Although the end result didn’t reflect it, the Thunder played a solid game defensively playing together as a team and forcing multiple stops.
“I think if our defense is just like [Wednesday] night and we improve our offense a little bit, we can win every game,” said Danilo Gallinari. “Our defense is very good and we need to take all the parts of the game and keep doing them.”
This defense was on display through the entire game. The Thunder showed their resilience, battling back after an early deficit. This taught Gallinari something about the character of his new Thunder team.
“That we fight for 48 minutes. That’s the way we want to play,” said Gallinari. “That’s the way we want to win games. That’s the only way to win games and play basketball.”
1-on-1: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander