OKC Thunder: Dennis Schroder finding his groove to help offense

The OKC Thunder beat the shorthanded Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Their offensive Big 3 of Paul George, Dennis Schroder and Russell Westbrook proved effective.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were able to beat the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, 123-95. For the OKC Thunder, this game was the coming-out party for a new Big 3 — on offense, at least.

Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Steven Adams are this team’s real Big 3, but when Westbrook, George and Dennis Schroder were out on the court, the offense was at its most effective. Having Schroder out there really maximized their offensive output.

When Terrance Ferguson came out of the game with an injury at the 5:41 mark of the first quarter, Schroder came in and the Thunder ended the first half up 60-46.

The Thunder scored 37 points in the second quarter, which was the most for any team in any quarter during the contest.

In the third quarter, OKC started the game without Schroder and the Warriors went on a run to close the gap to 62-59. The Thunder eventually went back to Schroder in the lineup and they ended the third quarter up 87-79.

While this group isn’t something OKC wants to start the game with because it needs some defense in the backcourt, it’s a good lineup when the Thunder want some juice on offense.

A team like Golden State, who was without Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, still had enough horses to beat the Thunder, but Oklahoma City found an offensive lineup to combat the firepower the defending champs trot out every night.

When all three of Westbrook, George and Schroder are out there at the same time, they are hard to guard. Schroder plays the two-man game with Steven Adams just like Westbrook can, and he takes the pressure off of Westbrook in terms of scoring and ball control duties.

Schroder is great at going to the hole. That skill-set is better offense than Westbrook’s pull-up jump shots, and the Thunder should utilize Schroder’s ability at the rim to generate points. Although he’s only shooting a dreadful 47.6 percent on shots at the rim, his ability to break down defenses is still useful, just as it was against the Dubs Wednesday.

The Thunder won the points in the paint battle 66-30. With how well Schroder attacks the defense, that opens up shots for shooters like George.

Adams and Jerami Grant are usually out there too, so the ball doesn’t stick. Adams was able to find opportunities to score by running off screens. He scored 16 points.

With Westbrook and Schroder out, there either one of them could have played the two-man game.

Paul George was on fire again this game. He scored 25 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out five assists with two steals. His 3-point shooting and defense on Kevin Durant were invaluable.

When the OKC Thunder traded for Dennis Schroder, they knew they were getting something better than what they had in Carmelo Anthony.

Schroder proved it against the Warriors by having a hot fourth quarter. His 10 points and two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter were enough to help the Thunder pull away.

The addition of Schroder has jumpstarted this offense. The Thunder were a team that couldn’t hit shots and close out games, but now with Schroder and his newfound ability to shoot 3s efficiently (he shot 5-of-6 from 3 Wednesday night), the Thunder have a new Big 3 on offense that is a force to be reckoned with down the stretch.