By: Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder complete the season sweep of the Chicago Bulls with a 92-79 win Wednesday night. With the win, the Thunder pulls to 7-7 on the season and now look at a tough four-game stretch coming up against the San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans, Golden State Warriors and the Detroit Pistons. The Thunder owned this game from the tip and lead by as many as 27 points. The Bulls made the game look closer than it really was with some late points in the fourth quarter. Here are my five observations from tonight’s third consecutive Thunder win.
1. While the Thunder controlled this game from start to finish and never trailed in the game, the Thunder really didn’t play that well on offense. The Thunder shot just 36-percent from the field and just 26-percent from three. The Thunder only mustered 15 assists as a team. I guess that really shows just how bad the Bulls are. I mean, on a night where the Thunder really struggled to play well on offense, the Bulls couldn’t even keep it close. Again, the Thunder won by just 13-points but that was more of the fact that the Thunder were bored in the second half. Now, back to the Thunder. I am still concerned with this Thunder offense. Carmelo Anthony returned after sitting out against the Mavericks on Sunday with a sore back. The basketball found its way to Melo and Russell Westbrook easier than it did to Paul George. George had just two shots in the first quarter while Russ had four and Melo had five. I am not a fan of this shot distribution. I want the Thunder go with Westbrook and George as the one-two punch with Melo as their sidekick. I think the Thunder will continue to struggle on offense if Melo is a primary option rather than a secondary option as a spot up shooter. When PG is not getting looks often, his rhythm is thrown off and it messes with him throughout the game and as a result, the team suffers as well. We’ve seen George show how good he is in the previous two games and now we’ve seen again what the Thunder revert to when he is not getting the shots he needs. This will be a complaint I have of this team going forward.
2. While the Thunder offense was not good, the same can’t be said about their defense. The Thunder were stifling on defense as OKC held the Bulls to 34-percent shooting from the field and 37.9-percent from three. Now, many will tell you, “yeah, but that was against a bad Bulls team.” And while they are right, let’s look a little deeper. The Thunder forced several 24-second shot clock violations throughout the game. More than that, the Bulls were chucking up prayers as the shot clock was expiring, otherwise there would have been many more violations. It is very encouraging that the Thunder played this well on the defensive end without their anchor in Steven Adams, who missed his third straight game.
3. Jerami Grant continues to impress early in this season. Grant scored 15-points coming off the bench and recorded his first double-double of the season as nabbed 11 rebounds. Grant brought down five of his 11 rebounds on the offensive end, which is a nice change of pace because he typically isn’t a good offensive rebounder. Grant’s ability to defend multiple positions in today’s NBA is a luxury and Grant is now drawing charges on a consistent basis, making him a really nice defender. He is developing into a really nice role player for this team right in front of our eyes.
4. This really isn’t an observation from tonight’s game, but more of one that came from shoot around from earlier in the day. I think Steven Adams is on the verge of returning. Today, after shoot around concluded, Adams was working out with Thunder assistant coach, Mark Bryant, as the media horde (including myself) were waiting on Russell Westbrook’s pregame thoughts. Adams was moving around pretty well and showed no signs that he was bothered by his calf that has kept out of the lineup for the past three games.
5. This weak stretch of the schedule came at a perfect time. The Thunder needed this three-game stretch badly after losing four straight last week. So, the Thunder took care of their business with wins over the Clippers, Mavs and Bulls. Now, it gets tougher with games at San Antonio and New Orleans and then returning to OKC for games with Golden State and the surprisingly tough Pistons. We’ll see how much progress this team has really made over this stretch coming up.
The Thunder will be back at it on Friday night as the Thunder travel to San Antonio to take on the Kawhi Leonard-less Spurs. Tip time is for 7 p.m. inside the AT&T Center.
