The Oklahoma City Thunder have an outstanding defense. That’s not an opinion — it’s a fact.
They are, for lack of a better word, a pain in the butt to deal with. They have depth, they have switchable perimeter defenders and they have two frontcourt options that present two very different yet effective defensive styles that make you second guess the mere thought of approaching the basket.
In two games versus the Thunder, the Celtics had similarly promising first half showings before falling behind late in the game.
The Celtics have scored less than 100 points just five times this season, losing each of those games. Against the Thunder on Jan. 5, it was their lowest-scoring game of the season, managing just 92 points on 97 possessions and being held to 27 points in the second half on 20% shooting.
The Thunder have held opponents under 100 points 19 times this season, boasting the league’s best defensive rating (107.1 points per 100 possessions) and net rating (+12.6).
And the thing is, there’s no real easy way to score on them. OKC allows the fewest points in the paint per game (43.6) – a 2-point difference from No. 2 Orlando’s 45.6 points – and defends the 3-point line better than anyone (33.6% opponent 3P percentage) with more contested 3-point looks than anyone (18.8 per game).
All of these elements factored into the first matchup between the two in January, but the biggest element to Boston’s flat second half was OKC’s superb help defense. The Thunder constantly threw aggressive help defense and double-teams to Boston’s initiators, but more importantly, they were smart in how they rotated off the ball to negate any potential advantages out of those doubles.
Notice how late in the shot clock a lot of those attempts were. Especially in the second half, OKC kept passing lanes clogged inside, while their high pick-up points and intense on-ball pressure made guys like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum work to just pass the ball off to the next easiest read. The Thunder finished that game with 16 deflections (they of course lead the league in that hustle stat with 22 per game).
But what about the things Boston was able to do successfully in that game? They had four players score in double figures by halftime despite shooting 27% from three. After all, something had to work right?
A lot of that success came in their early offense. Boston caught the Thunder out of position in multiple instances before the shot clock struck 20, like with this Kristaps Porzingis slip-screen into an empty paint just six seconds into the shot clock.
Or this imposing straight-line drive from Tatum that he initiated with 18 seconds left on the clock.
Early offense and quick decisions kept the defense on its toes, something that was missing in the second half, where the ball felt glued to one player far too deep into the shot clock.
Last night, the Celtics opened with a 3-point barrage, setting an NBA record for attempts from the perimeter in a half with 36, connecting on 15 of those. The creation of those shots was largely due to Boston’s patented drive-and-kick game, which successfully worked the ball inside and won the battle against OKC’s rotating defenders once it was kicked out to the 3-point line.
This first quarter possession five minutes into the game is probably the best example of what changed between the first matchup and what we saw last night. All five Celtics touched the ball, starting with an entry pass to Al Horford, who had the mismatch on Cason Wallace on the left block. Rather than slowing things down with a post-up, which would have brought immediate help, Horford switches sides on the floor, and OKC is a step behind the rest of the way.
It’s no easy feat creating successful dribble penetration, but Boston managed to do it relatively well out of the gate, and once they got the kickout, their decisions with the ball were quick and purposeful. OKC is a strong rotational team, as we saw in the last matchup, but the Celtics were able to create space for their shooters through their aggression getting to the paint.
The Thunder made a nice adjustment in the second quarter, operating out of a 2-3 zone for large parts of that period and in spurts throughout the second half. It took Boston a few minutes to really break it, but once they did, they continued to generate open looks for themselves.
This was in large part due to an explosive overall performance from Tatum, who bruised his way through that extra interior line, while also taking advantage of the space a zone affords shooters through his off-screen pull-up game.
We’ve seen Boston play a good first half against OKC though. Was the second just as bad as the first time around?
Despite another 3-point shooting nosedive, I’d say it was a more promising half of basketball this time. Shooting 5-of-27 from three isn’t exactly something to stand up and applaud, but the process in generating those shots was at least more coherent compared to the more muddled display in January.
OKC mostly threw the zone aside in favor of their more traditional defense. The ball pressure was aggressive and their help was more suffocating, and it was beginning to look like a flashback to the first matchup until midway through the third quarter.
Despite their perimeter game shrinking, Boston was still able to work its way inside, with Tatum finding a mid-range stroke and Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown forcing their way to the cup on a few occasions to keep the game tied heading into the final stretch.
This acrobatic bucket late in the quarter from Tatum featured the kind of high screen-and-roll and spacing that looks more familiar in a matchup against this year’s Knicks, and it was created by the threat of the shooters on the floor despite a cold stretch lingering through that 12-minute span.
The Celtics shot 39% from the floor in the fourth quarter and 3-of-14 from three, and there were more than a few possessions that OKC’s defense outright won, but the Celtics did themselves no favors with misses on four open 3-pointers that were created through previously successful methods. The video package below features all four of those missed shots, three of which came off kickouts and the other on a Horford pick-and-pop.
OKC is a scary team, a true contender out of the West that I don’t see any team beating four times in a series format. They’re also a very tough matchup for the Celtics, even with Porzingis in the lineup. These two losses create valid concerns if this were to be a rematch in the Finals, but Boston’s more coherent offensive process at least creates a slightly clearer picture of what the Celtics need to do in order to get over the hump against this Western Conference giant.
