The Thunder are now down 0-2 in their series against the Rockets and there isn’t much light at the end of the tunnel.
Game 2 started off much better offensively as the Thunder scored 30 points on 50% from the field so it looked like it would be a shootout. However, they allowed 35 points on 50% from the floor and 3. The defense was still lacking.
The second quarter they played with much more effort and it showed. Only allowing 18 points on 6-28 from the floor and 2-19 from 3. Thunder also scored 29 points on 50% from the floor and took a 6 point lead into half-time. Whatever Billy Donovan said to the team after the first half did not work.
They weren’t horrible on either end of the floor but it was nothing close to being good. They only had 2 points in the first 7 minutes of the 3rd and started to play too much one on one. There was virtually no ball movement and they started to turn the ball over a lot. It was much of the same in the 4th with a close game and Harden closed it for the Rockets.
The Thunder were led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who had 31 point and 6 rebounds. He and Danilo Gallinari who had 17 points and 5 rebounds, were the only ones who brought any offense. Chris Paul added. 14 points and 6 rebounds and Dennis Schroeder had 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists off the bench.
There were only 2 positives in the game for the Thunder and if they want to comeback and win this series those two will have to continue. The first was how aggressive Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was. After a game 1 where he only took 8 shots and had 9 points, it was like he was a completely different player in game 2. After the first quarter he had already had his game 1 output and would just continue to be aggressive all night and ended up with 31 on 9-17.
The second positive was the defense of Lu Dort. He was definitely missed in the first game. Harden had 37 on 12-22 in game 1 and everything was way too comfortable for him. Game 2 was a different story. Dort is big enough and strong enough to play Harden straight up without needing much help. Harden had 21 on 5-19 11 of those 21 came in the 4th where Dort only played a little over 3 minutes due to the team watching his minutes after coming back from injury.
Those two things will have to continue if the Thunder want to come back and win this series but those aren’t the only things needed. Before the series started, I mentioned that the team that control the pace will win this series and the Rockets have controlled the pace so far in both games. Game 1 they tried to play at the Rockets pace all game and Game 2 they went back and forth from playing at the Rockets pace and slowing the game down and playing one on one.
They need to take control of this series and with a guy like Chris Paul who is one of the best ever at controlling the pace of a game it shouldn’t be too hard of a task. Paul hasn’t played well in either game and he knows it. After game 2 he mentioned how bad he was and how the loss was on him. He knows what he needs to go so if he can take control of this series they will have a decent chance at coming back.
One other thing that needs to happen for the Thunder is getting Steven Adams more involved in the offense. He’s probably 5 inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than anyone defending him but he hasn’t been utilized the way he should be. In game 2 he was only 4-4 from the floor and all 4 shots came in the first half. There is no Rocket that can guard him and even if they send a double team he’s a good enough passer to get it to the open guy. If he’s not going to be involved in the offense to punish the Rockets there isn’t much need for him on the floor because he hasn’t been much of a factor on defense.
I don’t want to say this series is over but if the Thunder can’t start to control the pace, start using Adams, and get consistent efforts from Chris Paul, SGA, and Schroeder then this will either be a sweep or over in 5.
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