The Oklahoma City Thunder sure are lucky Dennis Schroder got back to the bubble in time to quarantine ahead of the playoffs.
TrueHoop’s David Thorpe, speaking on Zach Lowe’s podcast before the series started, said Schroder can be a huge difference-maker for OKC.
“To me, the most unguardable player on the court that isn’t named (James) Harden is Schroder,” Thorpe said.
Schroder, one of the three finalists for Sixth Man of the Year, completes the three-guard lineup that dominates foes on the court.
He averaged 18.9 points, 4.0 assists and 3.6 rebounds in just below 31 minutes per game, shooting career highs from the field and from deep.
“He shreds those guys one-on-one,” Thorpe said.
The primary concern for Thorpe is simply that Schroder almost certainly needs conditioning after being out of the bubble for two weeks. In missing six games, he is likely still getting back into basketball shape.
“He’s not full strength now,” Thorpe said in the podcast, which was posted Friday, before the first game of the series.
“I think he’s going to be back and fine, but I don’t know how good he’ll be. But I know this: They can’t guard him. He blows by everybody when he wants to.”
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Game One looked like Schroder was still working the kinks out. He wasn’t able to find room at the rim like usual, and he made just three of 12 field goal attempts, finishing the game with six points in 31 minutes.
In the podcast, Thorpe said he thinks the Thunder will win while Lowe said he leans Houston, even with Russell Westbrook injured.
Lowe said Rockets minutes with just Harden on the court are enough, as long as they can keep pace when he has to rest.
“If you surround James Harden with four 3-point shooters, doubling him is just as painful to your defense as it is with one non-shooter in Russ and three shooters,” Lowe said.
He also mentioned how Thunder point guard Chris Paul’s play style on offense doesn’t work quite as well when there’s no center he can attack.
“There is no more big man for Chris Paul to pick on in the pick-and-roll. Because that’s how Chris operates – ‘Bring me Clint Capela. He’s gonna drop, and I’m gonna have that little eight-foot pocket of space and that’s where I work my magic.’ And that eight-foot pocket of space is gone,” Lowe said.
That brings us back around to Schroder, and fellow secondary guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Those two must be able to attack the rim and shoot better than they did in Game One, where they combined for 20 points on 5-for-20 shooting.
“The gear you’re talking about with Schroder and even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is very important because you need that one-on-one gear,” Lowe said to Thorpe.
Admittedly, Paul had an excellent game one, scoring 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting, making three 3-pointers, and posting nine assists and 10 rebounds.
But as the first game showed, Paul isn’t enough on his own if offensive players around him are struggling to produce while the defense can’t stop Harden and Houston.
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