The Oklahoma City Thunder fall to the Utah Jazz 96 to 87 in a very sloppy game. The Thunder offense was as uncomfortable as they have been thus far in the preseason or in the opener against the Knicks. The Jazz had control of this game throughout, but the Thunder were able to cut the lead to seven early in the fourth quarter. However, the Thunder weren’t able to get it any closer than that and the Jazz hand the Thunder their first loss of the season. Here are my biggest takeaways from tonight’s loss.
This game was easy to see coming. While the Thunder looked good against the Knicks on opening night, let’s face it, the Knicks aren’t very good. The Jazz are a legit playoff contender in the Western Conference and have one of the best defenses in the NBA. The Thunder were sloppy on offense all night. OKC committed 17 turnovers and Russell Westbrook had seven of those and Paul George had six. So, obviously it isn’t good when your two best playmakers combined for 13 of your 17 team turnovers. But the offense was stagnant. There was little ball movement. Most possessions were one pass and one shot possessions. The ball wasn’t being moved from one side of the floor to the other, which made it easier for the Jazz to defend the Thunder. There were also open looks that the Thunder didn’t knock down, which really hurt on a night where the Thunder struggled to consistently generate offense. Oh, and it doesn’t get any easier tomorrow night when the Thunder take on an improved Minnesota Timberwolves team. Again, this is a work in progress and the Jazz made it look even worse because they are such a tremendous defensive team.
Russell Westbrook had an excellent game on Thursday. Tonight was a night Westbrook will want to forget. Russ scored just six points on two-of-11 shooting from the field. He was one-of-five from three and capped off a poor shooting night by missing three of his four free throws. Westbrook was bad tonight. Most of the this games issues rest on his shoulders. He was forcing passes, taking odd shots, missing shots at the rim, missing free throws and was really slow setting up the offense. Yes, the offensive struggles the Thunder are going through aren’t all his fault, but lots of the stagnant sets are. Lots of reasons the Thunder had so many one-pass-one-shot possessions was because Russell tried to set everything up himself. There were very few times that the offense moved the ball around the perimeter to set up open looks. The Thunder need to force the ball to move and rely on that to create their offense. This isn’t last season where Russell has to do everything. That might be the biggest transition for him this season with the additions of George and Carmelo Anthony. OKC needs a better Russell Westbrook tomorrow night against the pesky Timberwolves.
One positive from tonight was the play of backup point guard, Raymond Felton. Felton along with Anthony, Alex Abrines, Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Patterson pulled within seven points after the Thunder trailed Utah by 17 to start the fourth quarter. This is a welcome sign after the Thunder lost leads game after game a season ago due to the woes of the second unit. Felton scored eight points off the bench and hit two of his three attempts from three. Alex Abrines, who played 28 minutes tonight, scored seven points and went two-for-six from deep. So, even thought the Thunder suffered the loss, the silver lining is that the Thunder seem to have a capable bench this season.
The Jazz did an excellent job of making the Thunder defend them for the whole shot clock. The Thunder, who were already frustrated due to their play offensively, got worn down as the game went along due to Jazz’s excellent ball movement. The Jazz game plan on offense and defense was a perfect combination to force an ugly game from the Thunder as OKC is trying find their way. The Thunder a far away from where the want to be, but there are going to be a few more nights like this one as the Thunder find their identity with the new Big Three.
The Thunder played with a very slow pace tonight. It took too long to begin their plays and the Thunder couldn’t get anything going in fast break points only scoring eight points in transition. The Thunder lived off those points against the Knicks when the Thunder’s half court offense stalled. Tonight, there was nothing to help that Thunder once their offense came to a stop. The Jazz did an excellent job of getting back on defense and stopping the break. The Thunder did a got job of forcing turnovers, generating 19 Jazz turnovers. But The Thunder couldn’t take advantage. The Thunder only had 20 points in the paint. Rudy Gobert is a nightmare defending the rim and the Thunder felt his presence in the paint. When shots aren’t falling, those two areas have to be better for the Thunder to find ways to win early in the season.
There is no time to slowly work through tonight’s poor performance as the Timberwolves roll into town to take on the Thunder in Oklahoma City tomorrow night. Tip is set for 6 p.m. inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
