Oklahoma City Thunder: What Are The Focuses For Game 2?
Avoiding A Slow Start
The start of Game 1 Monday night for the Thunder looked very similar to Game 1 of the series against the Spurs, consisting of missing easy shots and careless turnovers.
Fortunately Monday night, they were still able to secure the victory late in the game, unlike when the Spurs made them pay for their mistakes.
Durant appeared shaken and out of his element throughout the first half and even though he went into halftime with 13 points, his four turnovers were uncharacteristic to say the least.
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The Warriors were fighting over the pick-and-roll with Durant and as they recovered by chasing him from behind, a defender would always manage to get their hand on the ball or deflect a kick-out pass that Durant was attempting to make.
When Durant came off without worrying about his man behind him, he seemed to be rushed to make a move to the basket or hoist a jumper. Either way, he was forcing the issue instead of letting the game come to him.
Westbrook also had a first half to forget, finishing with just three points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field. He had a number of great takes to the basket, but the rim seemed to have a lid on it as his contested layups continuously rolled out of the cylinder.
The Thunder can’t afford to start off slow in any other games this series especially with Golden State’s ability to get out in transition and knock down three-pointers. It didn’t hurt them Monday night, but it is a recipe for disaster in the future.
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