May 31, 2012

5/31/2012 09:42:00 AM
The Thunder Coaches and Players are not in Panic Mode they know they need to get back to playing their brand of basketball. In Game 2 they did that as their Bug 3 went for 88 points the problem was that they dug themselves such a hole they played catch up all night.

What I saw in Game 2 was that the Thunder made a concerted effort to attack the Rim and not settle for so many Money Balls like in Game 1. The Thunder were 7-18 in Game 2 and a poultry 8-24 in Game 1 from the Arc. Also they were only 17-25 from the Charity Stripe in Game 1 as oppose to 29-36 in Game 2. All these numbers were the improvements the Thunder were looking for accept the outcome of the game which was another loss.

Offensively the Thunder look like they are doing what they had intended to do in Game 2. Defensively lies in the Problem. There is a reason TP9 of the Spurs is always in the Top 5 -8 in the Logo in FG Percentage. He shoots High Percentage Shots via the Mid-Range or he gets to the front of the Rim on anyone. What the Thunder have to do and what they did in Game 2 was get back in Transition D and cut off TP9's One -Man Fast Break Opportunites.

The Half-Court Defense for the Thunder has been their Achilles Heel in this Series thus far. They are having real trouble with the Spurs Princeton Style 2-3 Sets as well as the Dribble/Drive Hand-Off as the Thunder Defenders are caught in no man's land a lot of the time.

What they have to do is play small so when they Switch or the Screeners Defender shows hard they can play the Ball. The Spurs are counting n TP9 or Manu to come off the Hand-Off and be isolated on a Thunder Big and they know they will win that mis match every time. They need to either Trap hard on everything to the Sideline or cutoff the Driving lanes and let the Spurs shoot J's all, night and if they get off and shoot a High Percentage so be it. The Thunder have to pick their Poison and the Spurs can't have both the Drives to to Cup and/or Open Looks from the Perimeter. But if the Thunder have to choose let Spurs shoot from the Perimeter.

Ibaka and Collison have to play the 5 Spot and they are going to have to move KD sometimes to the 4 on the Defensive End to stop the Spurs Offense. When they have 2 of the 3 in Perk, Ibaka, and Collison out there the Spurs are +16 in the Series When the Thunder have 1 of the 3 out there they Thunder are +8. They have to play small and if the Thunder keep attacking the Rim they will be in good shape for game 3 in Thunder Alley.

Squeeze the Orange PLAYBOOK is a Bluedude Sportstalk Exclusive.........Game 3 Tonight on TNT at 9PM ET in Thunder Alley.  



0 comments: