Oklahoma City Thunder: 3 takeaways from Game 2 rout vs. Blazers

2. OKC needs to shoot better

The Oklahoma City Thunder are not a good 3-point shooting team. This season they were ranked 22nd in in the league in 3-point percentage at 34.8 percent. In the playoffs this year, they are dead-last at 16.4 percent.

In Game 2, they shot 5-for-28 (17.9 percent) from the 3-point line. In Game 1 it was even worse, at 5-for-33 (15.2 percent). To win this series, the Thunder will have to shoot 3s better.

It does not have to be a drastic change. If OKC shoots as it did in the regular season, even that would be a step up from what they’ve been shooting in the postseason.

To solve this problem, they have to get easy baskets to get into a rhythm to be able to shoot their 3s. They don’t have pure 3-point shooters, so they have to get their shooters in a rhythm.

Westbrook, meanwhile, has to stop taking 3s all together. He is historically bad from long range and it would help the team if he didn’t jack up so many. He was 1-for-6 in Game 2 and 0-for-4 in Game 1. It would be better if he set up shooters like Terrance Ferguson and Jerami Grant and stopped taking them himself.