Merely one week ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder were 6-1 and briefly sitting atop the Western Conference. It was the best start after seven games in the Oklahoma City era.
A week later, the Thunder are 6-4 after dropping Sunday night's game against the Orlando Magic. A three-game home losing streak has dampened spirits across the fanbase.
With all these twists and turns through 10 games, just how good is this Thunder squad?
OKC's defense has allowed a stingy 100.6 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com, tied for sixth in the league. That number is the team's best since 2012-13 and an improvement from last season, when it posted a 12th-best rating of 103.0.
"Our defensive rebounding has been up-and-down. Our transition defense has been up-and-down. At times we've given up too many corner threes," Thunder head coach Billy Donovan said.
Donovan has a good reason to demand better from his defense: more "easy" opportunity for Russell Westbrook.
"If we get stops, we've got the best guy in the open floor in Russell playing in transition," he explained. "That helps our offense. It's really hard ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Jon Hamm
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November 14th, 2016 by Jon Hamm Leave a reply »
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