Thunder Hope Defense Leads to Offense?
If you’re Oklahoma City, you build on those 36 minutes, if only for this reason: Playing that way might be the Thunder’s only viable option.
This team is not built to consistently walk the ball up court in the Western Conference Finals and run a half-court play that produces an open shot against the smartest, most cohesive team in basketball. And if anyone needed a reminder of that, the Thunder’s International Distress Signal was on display again in Game 1.
You’ve seen the signal. It’s Kevin Durant drifting, drifting, drifting toward half-court, desperately holding out one hand and begging for the ball as the shot clock ticks inside 12 seconds. It’s not the sign of an unimaginative offense. It’s a sign the Thunder is taking the ball out of the net too often — which is about all OKC did in the fourth quarter when San Antonio hit 12 of 16 shots.
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