Yes, indeed, OKC always seemed to be a bit quicker to the 50/50 balls. Good for us that they didn’t have a great 3-pt shooting night.

Such a luxury to have Plums and DT as our backup centers.

What a 1st rate point guard Harden and real backup centers. Maybe, if we can stay healthy, we got a shot?

Good to see PG playing like Kobe at both ends of the court. Kawhi mortgaged our future for this PG.

As someone astutely wrote on Twitter about our 1B star, PG is turning into R.

– We are one of the worst matchups for them, especially on offense when we’re either hot shooting or moving the ball well without too many turnovers (the area where the Thunder usually make good for their limited rebounding). Tonight was such a night with a lot of good shooting, limited turnovers and a solid job collectively moving the ball. It takes away from the impact of Chet as a rim protector, Dort as a point-of-attack defender and guys like SGA and Joe who excel with help defense and in the passing lanes.
– Ty Lue did very well game-planning and adjusting to SGA and Chet in particular. Chet didn’t get good looks all night. What stood out with SGA: Russ and Coffey didn’t even try to defend him 1-on-1 because that leads to a ton of foul calls. Instead, they stayed away from cheap fouls, let him drive but then the second defender stepped up while the first recovered. It took away some free throws and some of his mid-range game while disrupting offensive plays for others as well. Shai only had two shots in the restricted area which also highlights the job our centers did. This can be further extended obviously to Mann, to PG and Kawhi. While Shai seemed not 100% and nowhere near his A-game on either end, defensively that had possibly even more to do with us than with him.

The Thunder would play better in a playoff matchup, likely with regards to a turnover edge. They got the assets for a significant upgrade as well. Both teams seem equally matched when it comes to shooting. But we were without Zu and very well-equipped to be one of the worst matchups for them.

In fact, I’d say JBugs mite even be scratching his head right now fighting off the thot that maybe, just maybe, giving away the farm in the SGA trade made some sense for the clips.

Agree on Plums–adds a dynamic. Did you see that sharp bounce pass leading to the PG lay in? Outstanding really. Plus he’s sneaky athletic–saw him contort his body in the air and ended up making a smart play. I think James is gonna REALLY like playing with Plums.

TMann the man–he’s not called the connector for nothing– love his passing out to PG for open 3s. How bout PGs postgame statement saying, in effect, playing with James/KL let’s him take practice shots all day long. Nice win.

I can’t imagine how great the Thunder would be if Shai and Giddy were reliable three point shooters because damn near everyone else on that team is. Shai isn’t better than PG–yet. I’ve always kind of quietly questioned whether that set shot three ball of his will be viable at the highest levels of competition. We defended both he and Chet well.