5 Observations from OKC’s 107-79 Win over the Utah Jazz

Posted on December 20, 2017

By: Michael Doutey

The Oklahoma City Thunder blowout the Utah Jazz 107-79 Wednesday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Thunder pounded the Jazz in the opening quarter, taking a 25-9 lead to the second quarter. The Thunder never looked back and even extended the lead in the third quarter, which has typically been OKC’s meltdown quarter. The Thunder were fortunate to have Steven Adams return to the lineup after missing the past two games with a concussion. The Thunder were also helped out by injuries to the Jazz’s best two players in Rudy Gobert and rookie Donovan Mitchell were inactive. OKC took care of business and put together their most complete game since dismantling the Golden State Warriors back on November 22nd. Here are my five biggest observations from OKC’s blowout win over Utah .

1. Despite key injuries to the Jazz, this game showed progress

The Thunder have losses to Sacramento, Orlando, Brooklyn, Charlotte and Dallas, which are some of the worst teams in the NBA. The Thunder have not always taken care of business when they have needed to. OKC has blown big leads and found ways to win games against lesser opponents. This has been the norm as the Thunder gone through the first 30 games of the season. But tonight the Thunder put away a team they needed to in the quarter in which they’ve struggled the most. That is progress. I don’t care who the Jazz had missing. The Thunder have found ways to make games like this interesting. Tonight, they had a team down and they put them away. It is minimal progress but progress nonetheless. After a frustrating start to the Thunder season, fans should happily take any signs of progress. Even with injuries to Gobert and Mitchell you can take positives from this game.

2. Russ’ Shooting

I mentioned Monday how Russell had been shooting better. I felt like Russ had gotten his shot rolling in the second overtime in Philadelphia. Russ had his mid-range jumper going early tonight. He scored 14 first quarter points on 6-6 shooting and five of those six came from mid-range. He scored 20 points in the first half and 24 in the game on 10-13 shooting. Over the past three games he has shot 35-59 from the field, which is 59.3 percent. If Russ can get his shot falling consistently then the Thunder can take off and start putting some long win streaks together.

3. 3rd Quarter Improvement 

The Thunder have been incredibly bad in the third quarters this season. That is no secret. So when OKC took a 16 point lead into halftime and fans had every right to wonder if the team would somehow blow another double digit lead. They didn’t tonight. OKC outscored Utah 34-23 in the third quarter and effectively put this game away. The Thunder used Russ heavily in the first quarter as Paul George and Carmelo Anthony didn’t shoot well. But they stayed engaged on defense and rebounded well. The Thunder then went to both Melo and PG for offense in the third quarter as they both each scored 10 points. PG went 3-6 in the frame as Melo shot 2-3 in the quarter and 2-2 from deep. It was a balanced attack for OKC tonight as the Thunder spaced out how they used their big three. Tonight it worked, but we’ll have to wait and see how that translates to the next game.

4. The Thunder likes to Dunk

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5. 16-15

The Thunder are now one game above .500 for the first time since Halloween and now OKC has won 8 of their last 11 games. The Thunder are now tied for 5th in the West with the Portland Trail Blazers. The Thunder might be making a little move in the Western Conference. They’ve started winning close games and now they blew out a team tonight. OKC is slowly putting some things together. This season they’ve tried to take one step forward and then have taken two steps back. The next few games should tell if OKC is turning the corner or not as they face Atlanta, at Utah, Houston, Toronto, Milwaukee and Dallas to close out 2017. We’ll which way they are headed after that stretch of games.

OKC returns to action Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

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