OKC Thunder: 3 Ways To Beat Golden State
Defense
As mentioned earlier, this was a tale of two halves. After looking completely uninterested in any form of team defense in the first half, the Thunder kept the Warriors to 18 points in the third quarter.
This is almost solely based on effort. Each member of the team took it as a personal challenge to make life as hard as possible for the Warriors on each possession.
Coach Billy Donovan also made adjustments to their defensive strategy, which helped cut down on the Warriors efficiency.
Donovan noted the adjustment with Kanter was, having him guard primarily non-screen and roll guys (Iguodala/Livingston). Pretty clever move.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 7, 2016
Wow, plays where OKC forced the pick and roll ball handler to pass to the roll man: 10 points on 12 attempts.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) February 7, 2016
Oklahoma City was able to keep Golden State from scoring on consecutive possessions throughout most of the third quarter, which helped them claw back into the game. By the end of the quarter, the 20-point deficit had been cut to eight.
One bright spot throughout the game was the fact that OKC held Stephen Curry to 10-of-26 shooting, including 1-for-9 from the three-point line. However, Curry either assisted or scored on every possession from the 3:00 mark in the third quarter.
In order for the Thunder to be able to take down the Warriors in a playoff series, keeping Curry as inefficient as possible is their best bet to win. Allowing 70-plus point halves is a recipe for disaster, especially with how good the Dubs are on both ends of the floor.
Next: Shooting in the Clutch