Damn. This was so much more fun to watch than the slog that was Miami and Boston the night before. Wednesday night in Oklahoma City wasn’t perfect — it looked like an opener with some poor decisions because players are not used to the speed of the game — but it was exciting and athletic.
And by the way, the Thunder are really good. That’s why they won 106-95.
This game was fast — 11 more possessions per team than last night’s big dirge in Boston — and that means we had athletes in the open court. That is fun. It also was one of the problems Chicago faced on the night — they needed to run and get some easy transition offense with Boozer out, but they don’t really have the horses to run with the Thunder.
You can bet Tom Thibodeau will bring up the words “transition defense” in the next film session. And likely not in a nurturing and caring way. But it’s not that simple — did you see the late game break by the Thunder where three quick touch passes led to a Westbrook dunk-and-one? Few teams can do that. Fewer still can defend it.
That Westbrook flush was part of the last five minutes of a game where the Thunder just found another gear the Bulls did not have and went on a 9-0 run to pull away.
That last sentence — about the other gear in the closing minutes — is the kind of thing people have said about the Lakers for years. And the Celtics. And the Spurs. And all the great teams dating back to Magic and Bird, and probably before them. That closing kick, that’s what great teams have. That the Thunder broke it out opening night is a good sign of things to come. A very good sign.
The other thing the Thunder did right was attack the basket. Oklahoma City shot 25 more free throws on the night. (Somewhere in Chicago a fan is complaining about the call disparity, but this wasn’t the refs it was about who attacked and who tried to draw contact, and who shied away from it for the most part.) Foul shots were key to how Durant had 30 points and Westbrook added 28 (combined they shot 32 free throws on the night).
Chicago, looked good, but without Carlos Boozer in the lineup they have nobody who can create offense outside Derrick Rose. So the Bulls would run some flex action or whatever the offensive set called for was, then eventually Rose would call out a high pick and then off of it he’d attack. He had to create and score because nobody else on the team did it consistently.
Rose started 6-of-8 from the floor, but then hit 6 of his next 23. The Thunder are and active and long defensive team, they do that to a lot of people. You sense Rose will be able to do more once he has Boozer in the lineup — Noah and Deng are nice players, but they are not the roll men that Boozer is. Taj Gibson is quality but his midrange game is not.
Chicago is going to get better. They are going to get used to Thibodeau’s defense, they will get used to the pace. They will get Boozer back. If they can hold it until then they will be good.
The Thunder are already there. And they have the closing kick to do it.
