Two things stood out about the Oklahoma City Thunder lineup against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday:
- With three center-sized players in the lineup, they can work the offensive glass and use height and versatility to their advantage.
- Without Lu Dort in the starting lineup, elite scorers can find ways to pick on the Thunder defense.
Oklahoma City lost to the Bulls 123-102. Chicago pushed its lead to double-digits near the beginning of the third quarter with a 9-0 run, and the Thunder couldn’t fight back, falling behind by 23 at the end of the third.
“Compete more defensively — I feel like that was the biggest thing,” said guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Bulls guard Zach LaVine scored 40 points through three quarters and did not play in the final frame.
LaVine is one of the more under-the-radar stars in the league. He has yet to play for a playoff team, but this season, his efficiency numbers are finally to a level where it’s undeniable.
It was clear on Tuesday. By the time he missed a shot in the first quarter, he had already made four 3-pointers and the Bulls had 40 points. In total, he made all eight of the 2-pointers he attempted and seven of the 12 3s he put up.
LaVine hit his first four 3-pointers in the first quarter and then went 3-for-4 from deep in the third to put the Thunder away.
This season, he is averaging a career-best 28.1 points per game. He’s doing it more efficiently than ever before, entering the night with a field goal percentage of 52.3% that is third-best among guards (min. 10 attempts per game) and a 3-point shooting of 43.5%, fourth-best in the league (min. 5.0 attempts per game).
Oklahoma City and Gilgeous-Alexander, who defended LaVine for much of the game, couldn’t slow him down.
“He requires a five-man defense, and I thought that showed a scenario where we need to improve,” said head coach Mark Daigneault. “He’s gonna burn you for every little mistake. You’re not going to have an invisible slippage.”
With Dort out due to a toe injury, Darius Bazley out with a shoulder contusion and Al Horford sitting for rest, the Thunder put out an interesting, and somewhat backward-seeming, starting lineup.
Starting in the frontcourt was 7-foot big Aleksej Pokusevski, 6-foot-8 power forward/center Isaiah Roby, and 7-foot-2 center Moses Brown.
That height played a role against the Bulls, who went small with Thaddeus Young at center.
The first Thunder basket of the game was a Moses Brown offensive rebound and putback. Over the first six minutes, the Thunder had six offensive rebounds and nine second-chance points.
When Brown, Roby and Pokusevski had all checked out, the Bulls grabbed three offensive boards over the final minute and a half of the first.
There wasn’t the same discrepancy throughout the rest of the game, but during the time those three were in together, it was interesting to see the action on the glass. The Thunder can do this with their rotation because of the abilities of Roby and Pokusevski to play away from the rim. Both can act as ballhandlers and playmakers. Both can shoot. They just happen to be enormous human beings.
Brown said that more than the height factor of Roby and Pokusevski next to him, their ability to space the court allows him to hit the glass.
“It has a lot to do with the way we’re aligned out there,” Brown said. “We play five-out, one-in, and I’m just a guy spacing at the dunker’s spot and I have to get those boards.”
With Oklahoma City willing to explore its roster at the cost of consistency on the court, this is one of the discoveries it can make — the answer to small ball isn’t actually small ball, but instead versatile ball. “Unicorn” bigs who can play like guards can combat opposing lineups well, and the Thunder have players with potential to do so moving forward, particularly in Roby, Pokusevski and Bazley.
It didn’t work on Tuesday, but it’s one of the areas Oklahoma City can and should continue to evaluate.
Brown finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks, his first career double-double. He joins Serge Ibaka as the only the two players in Thunder history to put up such stat line.
“It showed his potential,” Daigneault said. “He’s got a lot he’s got to work on fundamentally, on the defensive end especially, but I thought tonight showed a pretty good indication of what he’s capable of.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 21 points, ending his streak of 30-point games at three. He also had eight turnovers. The guard did not see the court in the fourth quarter as the game had ballooned out of reach.
Earlier this season, the Thunder overcame a 22-point deficit against the Bulls to win in overtime. They couldn’t do it on Tuesday, and their record dropped to 17-23.
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