4 takeaways: Thunder ship on each ends in Game 2 win, however lose Jalen Williams to damage

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Everybody loves shut video games, however one of the best groups care for enterprise once they’re dealing with overmatched opponents. And the younger core of the Oklahoma City Thunder is now 10-0 in first-round playoff video games, having secured a 120-107 victory in Game 2 of their first-round sequence with the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.

Those 10 wins have come by a median of 18.9 factors and, unsurprisingly, the Thunder have been essentially the most dominant staff within the first 5 days of playoffs.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored no less than 30 factors in a playoff recreation for the twenty third time in his profession, ending with 37 and 9 assists. Chet Holmgren added 19 factors, eight rebounds and 4 blocks, and Jalen Williams (19 factors on 7-for-11 taking pictures) seemed sharp once more … however exited the sport early with an obvious left hamstring damage.

Here are some notes, numbers and movie because the champs grew to become the third staff to take a 2-0 lead on this first spherical …

1. Thunder lose Williams once more

The Thunder are nearly actually going to win this sequence, so, with apologies to Phoenix, an important developments are people who have an effect on their skill to repeat. And in that regard, there was a significant improvement within the third quarter of Game 2.

With the Thunder up 15 halfway by way of the third, Gilgeous-Alexander skipped a cross forward to Williams, who was racing down the ground in transition. Devin Booker was capable of contest Williams’ left-handed layup, and because the Suns chased down the rebound, Williams grabbed his left hamstring below the basket.

Williams stayed on the ground for one more two possessions, however he checked out after committing a foul with 5:53 left within the third.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault gave no prognosis on Williams’ hamstring after the sport, solely saying that the staff would “take a look at it over the next couple of days.”

Williams missed 49 video games this season, first recovering from offseason wrist surgical procedure after which coping with a proper hamstring damage. Counting the 2 on this sequence, he has performed in simply 9 video games since coming back from a six-week absence. He was off to a terrific begin within the postseason, totaling 41 factors on 16-for-26 taking pictures over the 2 video games.

Now he could possibly be on the shelf once more, and at an important time of the 12 months. The Thunder can clearly win with out him (they went 39-10 in these 49 video games he missed), however they’re simply not as potent if he isn’t their second choice and/or there to maintain the offense afloat when Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t on the ground.

Gilgeous-Alexander additionally appeared to injure his left hand early within the first quarter on Wednesday however performed by way of it.

2. Thunder convey the offense, too

The No. 1 power of the Thunder is a protection that permits 8.3 fewer factors per 100 possessions than the league common, the second-best differential within the 30 seasons for which now we have play-by-play knowledge. Their offense ranked seventh, but it surely wasn’t almost pretty much as good because it was final season, partially as a result of Williams missed these 49 video games and (for essentially the most half) wasn’t fairly himself when he was in uniform.

With the Suns having a prime 10 protection, perhaps this might be an unpleasant sequence.

Nope. Through the 2 video games, the Thunder have scored 124.5 factors per 100 possessions, 11.6 greater than the Suns allowed within the common season. That’s the most important such differential for any of the 16 groups, so the Thunder have the No. 1 offense within the playoffs, each concerning commonplace effectivity and relative to their opponents’ regular-season numbers.

The offense begins with the protection, and the Thunder compelled 14 live-ball turnovers out of the Suns on Wednesday. But Oklahoma City scored simply 13 factors in transition, in line with Synergy monitoring, 16 fewer than they’d in Game 1 and 9 fewer than they averaged within the common season.

So a lot of that effectivity was half-court execution, led by Gilgeous-Alexander. After taking pictures 0-for-8 from outdoors the paint in Game 1, the reigning MVP was 4-for-9 from mid-range and 2-for-5 from 3-point vary in Game 2. It wasn’t his finest recreation, however he was nonetheless one of the best participant on the ground.

He labored in isolation. He labored out of the submit. He attacked the Phoenix bigs within the pick-and-roll.

When the Suns tried to construct a wall, Gilgeous-Alexander busted by way of it …

The Thunder protection is one of the best within the league by a large margin. And if the offense is additionally one of the best within the league? Uh oh.

3. Green, Brooks hold Suns in it

Though they misplaced by double-digits, this was a significantly better exhibiting for the Suns than Game 1. And the a lot greater distinction between the 2 video games was on Phoenix’s finish of the ground.

Big image, 107 factors on 99 possessions isn’t nice. But it’s significantly better than the 84 on 93 that the Suns scored three days earlier, and it may have been even higher in the event that they hadn’t turned the ball over 22 instances.

As nice because the Thunder protection is, it could actually nonetheless be crushed occasionally by nice expertise. Jalen Green stored the Suns shut by scoring 14 of his 21 factors within the first half, with the sort of quickness and explosion that any defender would wrestle to maintain up with.

Isaiah Hartenstein couldn’t include him on a pick-and-roll …

And he attacked Chet Holmgren, ending round one of many league’s finest rim protectors …

Green cooled off within the second half, and the Thunder went up 26 early within the fourth quarter. But Dillon Brooks stored the OKC starters on the ground by fueling a 20-4 Phoenix run that made issues only a tad fascinating.

The Thunder have stored Booker (45 complete factors over the 2 video games) considerably in test, placing a number of stout defenders on him and making him play in a crowd. But Phoenix’s different two scorers had their moments on Wednesday, retaining this recreation from getting out of hand.

4. Rim safety first

The tenacious and handsy guards are often prime of thoughts, however an important facet of the Thunder’s traditionally good protection is the rim safety.

When it involves defending and stopping pictures on the rim, Oklahoma City is in a category by itself. The Thunder led the league (by a large margin) in opponent subject purpose proportion within the restricted space (60.7%) whereas additionally rating second within the (lowest) proportion of opponent pictures (24%) which have come there.

On Wednesday, Holmgren confirmed why he was the runner-up for Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, blocking 4 pictures and altering others. The spotlight was a sequence halfway by way of the third quarter the place he prevented Brooks from getting a clear layup on a quick break, after which blocked Booker’s put-back try …

He additionally smothered Brooks’ try and take him one-on-one early within the fourth quarter.

Hartenstein had one block but in addition had a few key contests on the rim. And over the 2 video games, the rating within the restricted space is Thunder 70, Suns 38, with Phoenix taking pictures simply 19-for-39 (49%) on the basket.

The offense was higher on Wednesday than it was in Game 1, however nonetheless not adequate to beat the champs. The Suns might want to take one other step ahead in Game 3 on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock).

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John Schuhmann has coated the NBA for greater than 20 years. You can e-mail him right here, discover his archive right here and follow him on Bluesky.