By Michael Doutey
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 11th season home opener was ruined by the Sacramento Kings as the Thunder fall to 0-3 on the season, the worst start in Thunder history. The Thunder came out not fully engaged on defense and the Kings took full advantage. The Thunder offense was good at creating open looks, but were better bricklayers rather than shot makers. It was an ugly first half that set the tone for the Thunder. They trailed by 12 at the half and OKC could never dig their way out of the hole, fighting an uphill battle all second half long.
The Thunder had their chances. OKC cut the Kings lead to a two possession game on multiple occasions but Sacramento always had an answer and the Thunder defense applied little resistance in those instances. Ultimately, when you score 120 points you should win the game. But the Thunder’s defense was the crux of tonight’s discouraging loss as the Kings spoil the Thunder’s return home 131-120. Here are tonight’s five observations.
ONE: Defense, Defense, Defense
The Thunder were just flat bad on defense. The Thunder should never score 120 points at home and lose a regulation game. There were too many easy drives to the basket, too many open three’s given up, the defense broke down too easily and it was the downfall of the Thunder in this one. This is concerning because the Thunder played defense similar to this when they played lesser opponents last season. The Thunder have to be a better team on defense. They did okay in spurts. The Thunder would get down by ten or so and the Thunder would turn the defense on and OKC would get within four or five points. But the Thunder would let up some and the Kings made timely shots. I know the Thunder are not shooting well. Guess what? They aren’t a good shooting team. They must play better on defense to overcome their shooting woes. The Thunder didn’t do that near enough tonight.
TWO: Open Looks Lead to Bricks
I thought the Thunder generated good shots. There were times the Thunder had guys wide open and they just flat missed shots. Two of the biggest culprits were Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Patterson. Ferg and Pat both struggled to shoot the ball, combining for 2-13 shooting (1-9 from three) for six points. Those are two starters who got open looks who routinely missed. The Thunder as a team shot way, way too many three’s. OKC went 9-39 from three. That is horrid. The Thunder should never ever be shooting that many three’s in a game. They were too reliant on that tonight. But for the most part, OKC got good looks elsewhere. They just didn’t fall. While that didn’t help their cause, it also didn’t prevent them from winning. OKC scored 120 points. That is enough to win, albeit in ugly fashion.
THREE: Missed Free Throws
Speaking of ugly, the Thunder free throws are UGLY. Sitting in Cloud City and watching OKC clank miss after miss from the line, I thought I heard the anger and displeasure from Bill Haisten and Curtis Fitzpatrick echo throughout the arena. OKC went 19-30 from the line. Westbrook himself was 5-11 from the line, which is shocking. Adams was 4-8. Those two were the biggest culprits. But this can’t continue for the second consecutive season.
FOUR: Can’t Play Ferg
I have been a defender of Terrance Ferguson in the past. I guess you could still consider me one, even if I proceed to say otherwise over the next couple sentences. But, for all the is good and holy in this world, please start someone else over Ferguson. Ferg REALLY struggled tonight. Even at simple things, like catching the ball, were hard for Ferg. It honestly looks like he’s lost confidence in himself. He just isn’t good enough to be the starter at shooting guard. He brings nothing to the floor right now. Personally, I am in the Alex Abrines camp. I think he should start to add some shooting next to Russ. Multiple times tonight Russ was kicking to open shooters which ended in a miss. I think Alex would be a shot in the arm to the starting unit and his defense isn’t as much of a liability as you might think. I’m not giving up on the 20-year-old yet. But I am done with him starting for the time being.
FIVE: Young Contributors
Hamidou Diallo has been really good for OKC off the bench. He’s made plays in the summer league, the preseason and now the regular season. He looks so comfortable out there. He does so many things that are helpful. He cuts well, he understands spacing, he’s a willing defender and he can run really well in transition. He scored 11 points on 5-7 shooting. He is a jolt of energy coming off the bench that matches really well with Jerami Grant and Nerlens Noel. A surprise tonight was Deonte Burton, who played nearly seven minutes all in the third and fourth quarter after PG picked up his 5th foul. He didn’t look out of place or out of his league. He scored five points on 2-4 shooting and was 1-2 from three. He might be worth a look at more minutes. It was also interesting that Burton got in before either TLC or Abdel Nader (Nader was inactive tonight).
It doesn’t get any easier for the Thunder as they look to get their first win of the season next on Thursday night when OKC plays hosts to the Boston Celtics. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
