The Thunder play small but tough

With their eighth win in their last eleven games, the Thunder confirm that they are not in the running for the biggest tank this year.

A win for the Warriors above the Lakers or Blazers and in the West’s separate classification, Oklahoma City, is among the good surprises of the season, with clear improvement over last year (and the ones before). As proof of this, they have already won as many matches as last season (24)!

Central to this resurgence is undoubtedly the Olympic form of potential All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds), but there’s also a tactical strategy that stems from the inherent limitations of the game. Thunder’s manpower: lack of size in the paint!

Example against the Hawks this week, OKC Atlanta interior duo Clint Capela (2m08) and John Collins (2m06) with Kenrich Williams (1m98) and Jalen Williams (1m98). So, of course, the Thunder lost (137-132), but in the end they finished 72-64 in the paint, shooting 52%…

“We made the choice to play like this right now. We think this is a plus. This is a net positive.” Mark Daigneault says in Oklahoma. “In this game [face aux Hawks], we had good transitions when we played small. We just need to perform better on the outside of the game.”

If he plays “small”, i.e. without the old-fashioned turn, above 2m13, the Thunder compensates with a quick and lively game. And above all, tall players in every position.

“He must choose circle or perimeter!” »

Take SGA and Josh Giddey for example, they are two big leaders who are able to duel and fight for rebounds in their backcourt. Not to mention Lou Dort, a muscular winger and one of the strongest guys on the floor who doesn’t hesitate to stick the Rockets’ big arms.

“We often had a problem with a team that had a very strong, dominant corner near the circle. We want to limit that. But when you play like that, it leaves gaps that put players like Capela in a bind. He must choose the circle or the width! We’ve been doing this for a while and we’ve been successful. »

For this, Simshek circulates the ball a lot, and the offensive players get out of the habit of defending. This is a huge advantage for a winger who primarily plays inside and can therefore outrun his opponent directly with open attacking play.

Born out of the need to juggle a team that has been without Chet Holmgren for the year, as well as recent injuries to Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Aleksej Pokusevski, the Thunder are currently taking advantage of the talent and versatility of their back and wing players. While detailing the many benefits of this rotation.

“In this particular transition, we had injuries in the domestic sector, which created limitations and it forced us to take a fresh look at the guys we had. We obviously tested a lot of small rotations. It puts a lot of physical and rebounding pressure on our defenders and wing players, but we’ve also learned that there’s an efficiency to it. »