Oklahoma City Thunder: 3 takeaways from pivotal Game 3 vs. Blazers
2. OKC finds outside touch
The Thunder were not exactly what you would call efficient in terms of knocking down the long ball in this series. Through the first two games, they connected on just 10 of their 61 attempts from beyond the arc. That equates to a 16.4 percent conversion rate. This marked the worst 3-point shooting percentage through two postseason contests in NBA history.
Per ESPN’s The Jump:#Thunder produce worst two game stretch for three-point shooting in #NBAPlayoffs history. pic.twitter.com/p66ISDcm1G
— Brian Brinkley (@BrianBrinkleyOK) April 17, 2019
To put this into perspective, Lillard made nine shots from 3-point range in Games 1 and 2, nearly equaling the number of makes from distance recorded by the Thunder. Fortunately, OKC turned things around big time in Game 3.
The Thunder shot 15-for-29 from deep, eclipsing the number of 3s they hit in the first two games combined. Can the Thunder continue to shoot at a 50 percent clip from 3-point-range? Probably not.
However, they lost the first game by just five points despite shooting just 5-for-33 from deep. If they can convert between 35-40 percent of their looks from long range, they should be in pretty good shape going forward.