Why the Thunder offense actually wasn’t better vs. Warriors, and why that’s OK

The Oklahoma City Thunder did something Wednesday that not many teams can claim: they played the Golden State Warriors, and they smoked ‘em.

Sure, Golden State runs into a blip every now and then, but the Warriors were highly motivated to win this game. Kevin Durant tried to downplay what returning to Oklahoma City means, but his actions on the court spoke louder than his words. When he and Russell Westbrook started jawing, forehead to forehead, you could feel tension as palpable as awkward Thanksgiving conversations with your weird relatives. Durant and Westbrook still have beef, they still want to show each other up, and Oklahoma City nuked them anyway. The final score, 108-91, makes it seem closer than reality.

Even with the win, the Thunder still have a losing record (8-9). Common logic would suggest that a decisive victory against the league’s hegemon would be the moment that helps Oklahoma City turn around — and it might be! Let me caution you, though: the Thunder have done nothing to change the process behind their sub-.500 start.

Despite the Paul George and Carmelo Anthony acquisitions this summer, Oklahoma City has a below average offense this season — 16th in the league while scoring 103.8 points per 100 possessions. One problem is depth: Oklahoma City must play Andre Roberson, who is actively avoiding contact because of his hideous free-throw shooting, and still can’t find a consistent bench wing. But another seems fixable, and that’s the three stars.

Westbrook, George, and Anthony are all averaging 20 or more points per game, but none are shooting even 44 percent from the field. All three rank in the top-13 of isolation possessions, per NBA.com’s stats site, and all of them average under 1.0 point per isolation possession.

Isolations are not solely bad, but Oklahoma City’s isolations aren’t set up from beautiful ball movement or used to destroy mismatches. Like the Durant and Westbrook teams of years past, it feels more like the Thunder stars take turns with the ball, rather than create natural offense by playing off each other. Oklahoma City runs isolations on 13.1 percent of their possessions, far and away the highest in the league. (Only three teams crack 10 percent.) On average, NBA teams are scoring 1.06 points per an offensive possession this year. An average Thunder isolation nets only 0.89.

There was no radical transformation of that isolation-heavy offense Wednesday. It worked for one night, but that doesn’t change any of the real problems we’ve identified.

Of Westbrook’s nine assists, only one went to George or Anthony in their half-court offense. (Three did come in transition, which we’re getting to.) Not only that, but Westbrook shot 13-of-27 from the field, and only one of his 13 made field goals was assisted. There’s simply no synergy between the three stars.

Here’s some good news: it looks like the Thunder’s stellar defense is no fluke.

It’s surprising to see Oklahoma City as the league’s third-best defense, but it’s true: they’re only allowing 98.6 points per 100 possessions this season, behind Boston and Portland (!?). On Wednesday, that same defense frustrated Golden State into 22 turnovers. That’s where the Thunder really won this game.

Those 22 turnovers turned into 34 points, mostly from fast breaks. If you want to credit someone, start with Paul George.

As Katz notes in a follow-up tweet, the league leader in deflections only averages 5.1 per game. George doubled that, recording four steals but also breaking up likely scoring plays. It earned him praise from Steven Adams, whose rim protection is also worth lauding.

“(George) has a really good feel for it,” Steven Adams told reporters after the game. “Most players I’d rather them not, because it’s a gamble, but he has a really good feel when to do it and when to not. Again, it definitely saves us possessions.”

I wouldn’t have predicted any team starting Westbrook and Anthony as a top-three defense, but for at least one game, they held up against the league’s best offense. That’s a satisfying performance.

If Oklahoma City plays like that in a playoff series against the Warriors, they will die a painful death. Their defense would be frustrating, but no defense has ever fully stopped Golden State. They won’t usually turn the ball over 22 times.

This game is promising all the same. Oklahoma City’s defense bothered the Warriors, and there were doubts that it would ever be good enough to do that coming into the season. There are no doubts about how good the offense could be. It’s a matter of getting there.

The next problem Oklahoma City must solve? How do you fundamentally change how their star players approach the game. Through 17 games, we’ve seen that isn’t easy.

The Thunder have all season to figure that out. For now, they can rest easy after a game that proved they may be capable of becoming an actual challenger — however unlikely it still is — to a team we all thought was untouchable.