The BIG Problem With The OKC Thunder

[@nigelee]

Here's what I've noticed about SGA. There's no point trying to stay square in front of him. He's too shifty, has too quick a first step, and if you manage to stay with the initial drive he's got counter after counter after counter to screw with you. Step backs, spins, euros, you name it. What Jackson did in this game is a much better approach. Play him aggressively, stay attached to his hip, force him to speed up and funnel him away from the basket or into help. Yes, you're conceding the drive, but at least you have some control over where he goes, and you don't give him the luxury of taking his time and choosing his spots. Much like his mentor CP3, Shai doesn't like executing quickly.

[@oskarbitterlin5152]

Interesting!

[@alexstrom3099]

After Jackson's defensive performance league will slowly shift vision of how to defend SGA just like OKC did to Luka. They see Jaylen Brown guarding Luka from the half court and did it themselves and even double him half court. But... You can't do this in the PO series. Kidd and Luka will adapt. Especially with current Mavs roster. And it will be even better after trades...

[@Bluhake]

This is an impressive breakdown!

[@J-Hue]

Dillon Brooks had success against him with a similar approach. A big fix for SGA in those moments is to learn that mid range face up game that Jordan, Kobe, and Melo excelled at. Another issue is teams building a wall like they did around Giannis, making it tough for him to get to his sweet spots at mid range without multiple defenders near him. Clearing out one side of the court for a mid range face up/post up, then cutting to that spot quickly and freezing the defender with up fakes/drive fakes to keep him from closing the distance can free up easier offense. From there, the face up game can earn him a bunch of points off 1 dribble pull ups and drives and even no dribble pull ups.the defense then will have a tougher time doubling without leaving players open and SGA can read the defense and attack the rim before help defense can arrive more often. I think that may also be the key to unlocking his game to score more 40 and some 50 point games.

[@clevisbernier8973]

Maybe in the modern NBA. In the 2000's and prior he would be locked up.

[@beegtea]

Without Chet OKC basically runs a lineup of 6’6 6’4 6’4 6’6 6’11 Versatile but still on the small side. Only one team has a Giannis but that is still something they should address…

[@elizabethgeorge168]

I think it'll definitely bite them in the playoffs. They've been good for a few years now but they're not built for playoffs.

[@chinhong4578]

@@elizabethgeorge168injury to their 7’0 2nd best player biting them in the playoffs? Who could have thought

[@J-Hue]

​@@elizabethgeorge168 They may have enough size at full strength to win, but some series' will be a struggle. Their other problem is that they still only have 1 veteran scorer and that SGA. Jalen and Chet are still very young with a lot of growing to do on offense and not a ton of experience as to how to counter different defenses at this level. They're still in that area of development where the pressure and the defensive intensity could get to them. And, if it does, then who's gonna step up to help secure wins on offense? They definitely should've targeted a big 2-way wing for the 4 spot like Jerami Grant, Mikal Bridges (not quite ideal size wise, but he has the game), etc.

[@Hilight277]

@@chinhong45782nd injury in 3 years that keeps him out notable time. He’s not as injury prone as Embiid or Zion yet but it’s still concerning

[@urbaindelva7869]

​@@Hilight277Both of Chet's injuries have been due to bad luck, not poor conditioning or anything physical.

[@bigheif]

15% from 3 is also handy 😂

[@shorewall]

Yeah, if OKC was making their 3s, the game flips. 3s have too much variance, that's why I don't like their prominence.

[@yormeaceko7101]

​@@shorewallI don't get that argument. I mean if you had 15% from 2. You're still looking at the same story.

[@ts_30]

⁠@@yormeaceko71012s are overall more consistent; while teams can struggle in general, it just swings a lot more with 3-point shooting

[@minovictor]

@@ts_30they are more consistent but if the 3s aren’t falling the 2s are also harder to come by if the defense can just help on every drive, go under screens, wall up without worrying about a long range shot going in. Now you’re taking even less efficient mid range shots rather than layups and 3s

[@nicoperez9984]

nah. stop taking so many 3s and youll win…. actually play hard, play sum defense.

[@everyonesaidmynamewasstupi3713]

what the thunder really need is a 7 foot DPOY candidate who can average like 20 points shooting 40% from 3 and finishing strong around the rim, while being able to handle the ball and playmake. but that’s kind of unrealistic, that would never happen.

[@user-dh7dj3yw1b]

So Chet?

[@everyonesaidmynamewasstupi3713]

@ yeah that was my joke

[@user-dh7dj3yw1b]

@@everyonesaidmynamewasstupi3713 oh well I guess it didn’t go over very well

[@madgenius17151]

@@user-dh7dj3yw1bnah ur just dumb

[@alexstrom3099]

@@user-dh7dj3yw1b Chet is made from glass like Porzingis. Not that good of an asset over all. Especially as second best player of the team

[@evanling7570]

No Chet + Terrible matchup + 15% from 3 will do that

[@jacobgibbs3424]

These comments are full of nonsense. All of these problems that OKC has, they have had for the past 3 years. They made the play in, lost to Minnesota, then got Chet. After that they were first in the West, lost to Dallas, and added Caruso and IHart. Only reason why these problems still exist is because Chet is out for the near future. Once he comes back, and OKC is fully healthy, they will have nothing to worry about.

[@chinhong4578]

Showing Dort and Caruso missing wide open threes while GTJ and AJ Green are making highly contested threes and then saying it’s not due to shooting variance ain’t it

[@justtimes9257]

Well, maybe they're open for a reason

[@SpazzMatticusTheGreat]

​@@justtimes9257 They both shoot ~38-40% from three 🤦‍♂️

[@clouddueitt6577]

@@SpazzMatticusTheGreatpeople don’t watch the games. AJ does have some crazy perimeter offense, but 15% from the thunder? They have Isaiah Joe, Caruso, Dort, and depending on the night, they have a 7’ Chet all shooting 35-40% from deep. This feels like severe overreaction to the thunder roster construction.

[@alxx292]

Alex Caruso is literally shooting 26% from three this season

[@justtimes9257]

@ exactly

[@johnnelson3665]

If OKC shoots from 3 how they normally do, they win that game. Maybe Milwaukee is better equipped to stop SGA than most teams. But other players usually step up. But every 5th game, OKC has a night off their usual standards. Which means they are a 64 win team most likely. Which is elite!

[@Dyl_RK]

number 1 in the west - generally OKC covers their weaknesses/ they are willing to give something up for return somewhere else. The game against bucks was an outlier. Nothing to see here

[@gothgrrl8711]

Where’d that one seed get them last year?

[@ryanamburgy2791]

@@gothgrrl8711 we had less playoff experience on our entire team combined than Jayson Tatum had in his rookie year alone

[@liveforeverordie]

No was pretty obvious Bucks had a great matchup going into it, definitely not an outlier. TBH Champ is just gonna come out of the East simple as that

[@invictatewahedo8595]

It’s not an outlier, bucks blew out the Thunder, with Chet playing last season also

[@invictatewahedo8595]

Real bucks fan knew this was a favorable matchup for them

[@mikefrmmonkey]

peak time for an upload

[@smgyro1476]

The Bucks have several good perimeter defenders. They have AJ Green, Andre Jackson Jr, Ryan Rollins, Delon Wright. That's all the excellent guys. Everyone else in the rotation outside of Bobby Portis is solid to well above average on the perimeter defensively. The "Bucks don't have perimeter defense" narrative, is just that, a narrative and nothing more

[@user-dh7dj3yw1b]

@@smgyro1476 aj green competes on that end but he gets targeted at times

[@TexanByNature88]

Yall expect OKC to have everything to stop these monsters in the NBA😂😂

[@alimfuzzy]

OKC are first in the west by a wide margin. They're fine.

[@alexstrom3099]

Not in the PO:)

[@BrooklynBalla]

Regular season means nothing.They were first place last season as well and didn’t do very good in the playoffs.Teams weaknesses get magnified in a series.

[@BarnzTT]

​@@BrooklynBallaNot true. Mavs only advantage against them was size. Mavs are a diferent team this year, but less physically imposing compared to last year. Thunder took them to a game 6 despite vastly being outrebounded. They did better than the Wolves. The Thunder are currently is in a shooting slump from 3. It happens to every team.

[@alimfuzzy]

@@BrooklynBalla they lost by one last second foul.

[@george5432]

​@@BrooklynBalla They were the biggest obstacle to the eventual conference champions and just a couple points away from a game 7, while being the youngest first seed of all time. Basically what I'm saying is you don't know ball if you think they didn't do "very good" lmfao. You want to see mediocre, then look at your nets

[@adityavarshney6690]

Isn't this solved once Chet is back? Him being in the lineup means that SGA/JW can easily dump to an elite player if the big shades/doubles. Chet can also shoot the three.

[@BestShootermanUbz]

What a pointless overreaction of a video. Okc beats the Bucks 9 times out of 10. Fluke game that made people believe the Thunder aren’t contenders and that the Bucks are the best team in the league 😂

[@justtimes9257]

people wanna blame the three-point shooting alone, but the books are leaving them open for a reason people; plus they know when they close out against those players they can't create their shot out of a close out so there's nothing to worry about; this was the same issue they dealt with last year

[@user-eo9fl9wb8s]

The last part of your comment is a fantastic point that I don’t see anyone talk about with OKC. They have absolutely zero playmaking and next to no shot creation outside of SGA, so if he’s sitting or if their schemes are getting properly addressed they have few options to create chaos or stress test opposing defenses.

[@urbaindelva7869]

​@@user-eo9fl9wb8sSo what is Jalen Williams? Chopped liver?

[@justtimes9257]

@ well thank you and yes OKC has no triple triple threats besides j-dub & chet; and they need to have heart sign out. There is a guy who needs to be set up by his teammates or attack offered advantage; but they don't have that 4th dude who can attack off advantage if they get that guy that team can be purely unlocked

[@joeldriver-sp2rg]

OKC went 5-34 on 3s in that game and that's why they lost. It isn't really because of anything Milwaukee did...they just shot it like shit and that happens sometimes. Let's remember OKC doesn't have their 2nd best player Chet Holmgren and also was without 6'9" power forward Jalen Williams. Both players would clearly make a huge difference against Milwaukee who had a big height advantage. In a 7 game series Milwaukee would have zero chance against OKC....ZERO.

[@Isaia085]

The big problem? They shot the 3's like shit. That's it.

[@staaticc]

While its obvious that these defensive(and somewhat offensive) problems for OKC are due to Chet's absence, i think that OKC really does need to diversify their approach as opposed to relying on Shai's and J Dub's plays

[@msinna6433]

But that’s like saying the lakers have to find a way to win without LeBron and AD, or the mavs without Luka and kyrie. That doesn’t make sense. Teams will be happy if the possession doesn’t end in sham or j dubs hands

[@PatoNani18]

@@msinna6433 And we shouldn't forget how important Chet is for Thunders playmaking. Of course Shai is by far the most important playmaker and without him this team can fall down real quick but this team is atill mad young.

[@staaticc]

@@msinna6433 I mean the Lakers REALLY do need to find a way to win without relying on bron and AD. their lineup as a whole is majorly flawed and has literally no perimeter defense lmao. It does make sense because while the superstars will propel u to win games, to entirely depend on them in a heliocentric type of environment to CLOSE games is not sustainable. Look at all these people u suggested. They all run very focused offenses that are dictated by whatever moves their stars do. Luka/Kyrie werent even close to winning the Finals over the Celtics because the Celtics had so much more versatility. Bron/AD are not close to winning at all recently because of the fact that their supporting cast is so inept defensively. The Celtics are a great example of a team tht has the star power but also the role player power.

[@hschmicknos]

Really liking your videos. If you could enunciate a little more on the mic, I think it would improve the overall production quality.

[@johnnelson3665]

It’s just one game. And they didn’t have Chet.

[@beegtea]

Doc Rivers cooking He talked more about them finally executing all the defensive adjustments they made over the summer successfully, in today’s post game interview vs bulls

[@george5432]

OKC has to be more consistent from 3, and not be so reliant on it. Especially since you never know if Dort will go 4/6 from 3 or 0-7

[@ryanamburgy2791]

Yeah this is my biggest problem with Dort, I think he should play less minutes in the games he's cold.

[@clevisbernier8973]

0:36 - enough with these lame fouls. calls. SGA jumped into him.

[@DIRTYPRODiGY]

Credit where credit is due and it is Bucks coming into this with a solid gameplay to contain SGA and force them to play with less confidence over the entire game.

[@malak3347]

basically anyone who knows ball knows a big with real post moves would run circles around our lineup. (with Chet out) Key takeaways: 15% shooting from 3 won't happen every game. league average from 3 would've been near a tie game with 2 min to go. still held the bucks to nearly 20 points under their average, defense still did its job. I'm not too worried about a 1 game sample against the thunders worst match up in the league.

[@moety2]

Hey, I’m a bucks fan. I think Giannis should be the MVP. The reason he isn’t ranked 1 over Joker is because they are ignoring 50% of playing basketball which is defense where it’s just not contest. I want them to win but I’m still not convinced they could. With that said, I think the reason okc didn’t shoot so well is because they are a young team that was in Vegas. I would wager they were living it up and didn’t have it for that game. During an interview, a reporter asked Dame about Vegas being a distraction to where he replied that he’s not young and it’s nothing new. He’s just focused on the game. Can the same be said about one of the youngest team in the league? We will never know for sure but imo I think that was a deciding factor.

[@jeremiahcribbs9986]

W vid!!

[@assadnasr2800]

I think Nikola will be that creator they need that’s comfortable with the ball

[@landox]

The BIG problem with the thunder is AJAX lol

[@dray02151]

Knicks video next 👀

[@verward]

Bro this is way too many words for: the Bucks locked in defensively, which is positive for them, but the OKC will never shoot 12.5% from 3 again, so the Bucks also got kinda lucky. Let's not forget, the bucks scored 91 points and giannis 'only' made 26. J-dubs and dort guarded him well, he just hit some insane middies (which has been a thing this year).

[@dimelo58]

Okc gotta run some plays instead of isolation for the stars

[@Devstaa]

They run more sets than anyone in the league. 90% of their half court offense starts as some set play. Just because jdub and shai drive to the basket more doesn’t mean that it’s an iso

[@waff6ix]

GAMES LIKE THIS MAKE IT VERY CLEAR JUST HOW MUCH THEY NEED CHET💯LOWKEY I HOPE WE GET A BUCKS VS NUGGETS FINALS

[@russellpua2664]

its a different story when chet plays they can play 2 bigs at the same time

[@BrooklynBalla]

Running Chet and iHart together is not very good.Chet is best utilized at center.

[@J-Hue]

​​@@BrooklynBalla They may be able to work some teams over for stretches with those two. But, against Milwaukee, I don't think you want Chet or Harrenstein guarding Giannis at the perimeter.

[@msinna6433]

@@BrooklynBalla nah, Chet can play the Gianni’s role of being a help defender at the 4 for a big lineup and add speed and versatility in a small ball lineup

[@russellpua2664]

@@BrooklynBalla the reason they got ihart is that they can play 2 bigs. chet cant stop giannis but it wont be bbq chicken for giannis

[@pratyushsharma1178]

So only difference was bucks shooters shot the 3 point shot whereas Okc didn't. It's a make or miss league that's it. No elaborate analysis needed.

[@elizabethgeorge168]

2 things can be true at the same time. Yes, OKC shot poorly tonight. But the Bucks did throw something different at SGA compared to how other teams normally play him.

[@goldpotato1885]

simple minded observation from you

[@MrDarkx1000]

Congrats, you’ve practically explained most major sports in the world with your surface level observation

[@george5432]

@goldpotato1885 Bro needs a PhD to figure out why a team who missed as many open shots as okc lost lmfao

[@slightexag]

Jalen Williams isn't as good as people say and the OKC offense overall often looks stagnant. They are kind of similar to the Celtics in that they have great records but aren't a sure thing when we think about the playoffs. They're the favorites but both have weaknesses on offense that can be exploited.

[@kalinwang1]

Bucks have the best defender on the floor which is Giannis Antetokounmpo. But yes, OKC overall as a team has the better defense. But Giannis can shutdown their whole team when it's on the line.

[@johnnelson3665]

The Suns were also a better team. But Giannis hijacked the 2022 finals. Don’t underestimate a legend in Giannis.

[@61Wolves]

Don't let the thunder fool you do you really think they care about a fake championship.?

[@NemoRackkz]

We don't have Chet thats it.....tf is this dk munching video....

[@HoChiMinhForTheWinh]

Their only choices are to trade Hartenstein for a bigger big, Have HArtenstein play like a big(lol good luck with that) or Wait for the trade deadline and rely on Harten l, Holmgren and their new big(s) to be their bigs In my opinion I see them choosing options 1 or 3 ...

[@deboss8998]

So they basically have chet to fix all their problems

[@tfizzle56]

I honestly dont think okc going to the finals

[@johnnelson3665]

Yeah you don’t understand basketball.

[@liveforeverordie]

Hey, video guy. Jackson Jr. is not the best Bucks perimeter defender, it is AJ Green by a decent margin. Some of the best defensive fundamentals in the game, do a deep dive into his defense and be amazed. Jackson Jr. has bad discipline on defense and is susceptible to being unplayable due to that lack of discipline, which is admittedly getting better as his experience grows. Free 100k view video..."How does this 6'3" white boy dominate defensively"....then just breakdown him locking down guys with his great fundamentals and lateral quickness. Ez money baby. You're welcome, Merry Christmas

[@ozberkoz]

OKC still wins easily against Bucks in a 7 game series.

[@johnnelson3665]

If Chet is healthy, I doubt it goes more than 5 games.

[@gold5391]

All solved with chet holmgren

[@johnnelson3665]

Even if he wasn’t healthy, I still think the Thunder could beat the Bucks. But the Celtics are the better team. The Thunder need to prepare for the Celtics.

[@ramanseuruk4610]

Shai without free throws is just Lance Stephenson

[@maartenvz]

It's only noon around here but i'm pretty sure no one is going to beat this take on the scale of one to facepalm today...

[@burningasbestos]

@@maartenvz OP's comment gotta be ragebait... right?

[@J-Hue]

Man scored like 39 on Dallas 2 games prior with only like 4 ftas. This dude says Lance Stevenson. lol

[@PrivatePeach]

first

[@bruhbruh1195]

Second

[@janoycresnova9156]

OKC is just a cute regular season team. They always fold under pressure.

[@SpecOpsCM]

Yeah until they don’t fold… once they win big games and playoff series it’s a wrap.

[@NemoRackkz]

Getting to the Western Conference Finals is not a fold after the year before being a play in team. Yall are idiots

[@janoycresnova9156]

​@@NemoRackkzwhen did they get to Western Conference Finals? You're making stuff up.

[@urbaindelva7869]

Wym "always fold under pressure"? They have not faced enough pressure in their current form to even warrant that claim. They reached the postseason for the first time last year in the Shai/J-Dub/Chet era.

[@clevisbernier8973]

Shai plays like an unintelligent Gen Z player. He's not a true point guard and floor general. He just want to 'get in his bag'. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.

[@Suremane]

The biggest problem w OKC be that they is a bunch of cornballs that do cringe aźz shìte. Yeah keep that same energy in April when yall get bounced out the 1st round beach

[@fubusupporter5933]

This ain’t it 😂

[@J-Hue]

I mean they could use somebody to bring to meannes to their squad. A Brooks or Draymond type.