Thunder’s Speed, SavvySolves Chicago Defense
All season long, the Thunder has faced conservative defenses. Opposing five-man units have sagged into the lane when defending pick and rolls, using a rim protector to ward off darting Thunder guards and dashing big men as they tried to carve out angles in the paint. That type of defense is called a “drop coverage” among NBA types and it is often employed against squads like the Thunder that run endless numbers of pick and rolls near the elbows and the top of the key.
Tonight against the Chicago Bulls, for the first time this season the Thunder faced an entirely different type of defense - a hyper-aggressive, swarming, trapping, blitzing group that used its length and athleticism to wall off passing lanes. In the first half, the arms of Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, Wendell Carter Jr. and other young Bulls stayed up high deflecting countless balls as the Thunder tried to bail out of Chicago’s traps with a bounce pass to the middle of the floor or a skip pass across the court.
Coming into the game the Bulls led the NBA in steals and were near the very top of the league in points scored off turnovers. Chicago nearly matched their game averages in the first quarter, forcing 9 turnovers that led to 18 points. The Thunder struggled to complete those pocket passes to Steven Adams and Nerlens Noel and fared even worse when trying to skip the ball to shooters like Danilo Gallinari and Terrance Ferguson. The ball couldn’t make it through the sea of hands and the Bulls were off to the races more often than not.
Down by as many as 26, the Thunder needed to get crafty and do it in a hurry. Tempo and speed are always critical to OKC’s offensive flow, but tonight it was even more pronounced. In the first half the best offensive possessions came when Dennis Schröder got a full head of steam in semi-transition and blew by unsuspecting Chicago defenders before their shell was set. Using those moments as a template, the Thunder manufactured some speed in the halfcourt.
In the third quarter, Chris Paul started working his conductor’s baton, getting the Thunder into double-high screen pick and rolls with Gallinari and Adams, which confused the Bulls defense. What resulted were some open jumpers and easy layups at the rim. Chicago reacted, or perhaps over-reacted, to the Thunder’s third quarter flurry, which ended with an 11-2 burst to make it a 10-point game heading into the final frame.
“Pace is what we talk about every night,” Paul noted. “You know when you set ball screens with pace, it sort of forces confusion, and when you got somebody who can stretch the court like Gallo [Danilo Gallinari], you know you got them making decisions. Either you’re going to switch the guy onto me, or you’re going to show and you’re going to be late getting back to Gallo.”
“Guys like (Paul) have a mental computer of what’s going on, what’s open, what’s available, and he’s looking at things and sizing things up and knowing where and when he can get shots off and where and when he can throw passes,” explained Head Coach Billy Donovan. “It was just really more him reading the game and taking advantage of the information he was gathering in the first half.”
In the fourth quarter, the Bulls stopped trapping, hedging its bets a bit in its coverage. Chicago still brought its big man up to the top of the floor to defend the Thunder’s persistent pick and rolls, but using them in a switch instead of a trap. It was an attempt to bait Thunder guards into playing one on one, however the result was Paul, one of the best to ever play in the NBA isolated against young Bulls bigs like Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr.
Those centers and forwards didn’t have the foot speed to keep up with a Paul drive to the lane, so they backed up a few steps and let Paul have a clear view to the rim. The Thunder point guard took advantage, raining down three-pointer after three-pointer – five in the decisive fourth quarter alone – over the top of those defensive switches.
“It’s Chris, nobody is surprised about that,” said guard Terrance Ferguson. “He’s going to ball each and every night. This whole team believes in him. We want him to take those shots.”
Paul’s been a master manipulator of opposing defense for all of his career. Most nights the ball ends up in the hands of one of his teammates, and that’s why he’s 7th all-time in career assists in NBA history. Tonight though, Paul read the defense and called his own number.
“I talked to coach this morning and he told me just to play free. Be aggressive, get some shots up,” said Paul. “I finally saw some go through.”
Paul racked up 19 fourth quarter points on his way to 30 total in the game, accounting for 88.9 percent of the Thunder’s 27 total in the final frame thanks also to a pair of assists. As the Thunder got its offense worked out and stopped turning the ball over, it clamped down defensively too, outscoring Chicago 60-38 over the final 24 minutes en route to a 109-106 win to kick-start this five-game home stand.
