Despite a dominant record, OKC's offense falters, ranking 16th post-All-Star break. Can they fix this before the playoffs?
The reigning champs own a 15-1 record since the All-Star break with key wins against Cleveland, Denver (twice), New York, Boston and Minnesota. However, their recent success is due to elite defensive performances and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 58/50/93 shooting splits in the fourth quarter per NBA.com. These strengths and the stellar record are hiding the fact that Oklahoma City’s offense has been mediocre as of late.
The team has scored just 114.7 points per 100 possessions during this span, which ranks 16th across the association. This mark is behind sluggish teams like Houston and Orlando who often look lost on offense. 16 games is not a small sample – it’s 19.5% of the entire regular season.
Gilgeous-Alexander missed the first four contests of this stretch, but Oklahoma City has only scored 114.9 points per 100 possessions across 12 games since he returned to action on Feb. 27. The games without him did not tank the Thunder’s offensive rating.
Three-point shooting is definitely a major part of the problem. The champs have only made 35.8% of their triples since the break, including a putrid 36.1% of their wide-open triples. Luguentz Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins are the main offenders. They have combined to shoot 25.1% from deep on 219 attempts post-break. It’s simply difficult to score when jump shots miss at this rate. Plus, Oklahoma City’s offense is struggling to generate free throws and convert shots inside the paint.
There are only 10 more regular season games remaining, so Oklahoma City needs to bounce back soon in order to enter the playoffs on a high note offensively. Fortunately, its most recent win against Philadelphia was an encouraging contest. The Thunder scored 123 points on 53/43/90 shooting splits, and the amount of ball movement really shined. Players were making the extra pass to morph good shots into great shots.
Jalen Williams’ return also helped matters. He racked up 18 points and six assists across 20 minutes. Perhaps the wrist issues are finally behind him? His shot looked smooth and comfortable.
If the Thunder manages to stay healthy down the home stretch, then it should have plenty of time to rebuild chemistry and establish semi-rigid rotations and roles before the playoffs begin on April 18. Jared McCain’s minutes will be especially intriguing to monitor because he has not played a single minute yet with a fully healthy Thunder squad before.