Daily Thunder.com

@justin
Justin, You rule! You have nothing to add btu are the very next commenter. That's just funny;)

@Keith

Good point about the ballhandlers on fast-paced teams. What I thought was notable about the list was that OKC runs a much slower game than the Warriors or the Suns, and yet we have two players in the top 5. Even accounting for the fact that the Westbrook and Durant are the primary ballhandlers, I don't really like how BOTH of them are on there. If one or the other were there, that would be one thing, but having both is a little worrying.

@Ben
Another important factor in steals given up is how often you have the ball. Ellis and Curry have the ball a lot for a very fast paced team, so there is a lot of opportunity. Nash makes a fast Phoenix offense run, and so has the ball a ton also. Where do our guys fit in? We run a much slower game but those two have the ball most of the time. I think both would improve with better dribbling, or at least avoiding traffic more with their dribble.

On the topic of defense, here's an interesting stat: 2 of Thunder's players (Durant and Westbrook) are in the top 5 of players who have had the ball stolen from them this season. Something for the players to keep in mind, since for the most part having the ball stolen off you is a matter of concentration than anything else. Surprised to see Nash at #1 though.

1. Steve Nash (194)
2. Russell Westbrook (131)
3. Monta Ellis (129)
4. Kevin Durant (128)
5. Stephen Curry (125)

I definitely like the idea of the offense opening up more, against Utah we ran a lot of PnR with Russ / Collison, had some great cuts (the Durant to Green play) and generally saw a lot of things we didn't see much during the start of the year.

Our brand of defense, the swarming, contesting, always in motion takes a lot of energy. With guys like Durant and Green playing 40 minutes a night, it's asking a lot for them to be supremely active on both ends. I like the balance better, so long as the offense is working.

I still think a legitimate defensive anchor, who could rebound and block shots would make our margin for error much bigger defensively.

This is an excellent article and makes a great point. Nothing to add, just wanted to say that.

I agree with jax our D in transition and against teams that push the pace can be terrible. We give up a lot penetration and open looks under the basket. Also it's difficult to work hard on D if you are up by 10 points. Although I think they have not learned how much they can slack off with the lead, and therefore take it a little too easy at times and let teams back into the game. We are a very young team after all and young teams seem to struggle with the mental aspects of the game.

@Keith

Maybe you think it shouldn't be legit, but it is. We don't play great defense against fast paced teams. We generally win those games, so the defense is good enough to win, but it isn't the brand of defense we expect to see.

@Jax Raging Bile Duct
I just don't think pace should be a legitimate reason for our issues. Besides Phoenix and Denver (losses), the fast paced teams we faced were bad offensive teams. The main games to note were Sacramento and Minny, and we couldn't stop either team on the run or in sets.

I'm not trying to tear up your argument, but I'm just more concerned perhaps than I need to be.

@Keith

I didn't say anything close to tossing out the numbers. I reiterated twice that our defensive numbers are slipping.

I state two reasons why the numbers are slipping: fast paced teams, and playing ahead by double digits in most of those wins.

I also mentioned that we had games in that stretch where our defense played as well as it had all year.

@Jax Raging Bile Duct
I don't think we can just toss out things because teams run a fast pace. Toronto is fast, and has a good offense, but they were also missing Bosh, the literal foundation of their team. Sacramento scored easy on us twice despite being a bottom 10 defensive team. The scariest thing to look at is that the only good offensive team we beat was Utah. Everyone else we've faced since Dallas (right after the big trade) has been a below average offensive team or a loss.

It's very disconcerting that we are playing such mediocre defense against such mediocre offenses.

We've played several fast-paced teams over those 13 games as well. I think that has to be considered. I know that the stats are per possession, which accounts for pace, but the Thunder are a team that does not play it's best defense against fast paced teams. We locked down on the Hornets last week. The lowly clippers managed 87 points. We held Dallas to 86 and Toronto to 99 (which sounds like a lot, but not for the Raptors - if you remember we were up by about 4000 points and our bench players let the Raps score at the end).

But in any case, the defense has slipped, but we've been ahead in many of those games, for most of the game, and most of those leads have been by double digits. So as far as the numbers go, I can see where we're slipping. But I can also see that we didn't need that defense to bring it's A+ game in order for us to comfortably win either (save a few games I mentioned).

Top 3 offense and middle of the pack defense (our last 13 games) is about where the Suns routinely fell under D'Antoni. Great for the regular season, still unproven in the playoffs.

I would take that if it is where we intend to be, as I think the Suns lack of a championship had more to do with luck (suspensions, injuries) and dominant teams (Spurs in their prime) than a bad system. But, I don't think that is Brooks' plan.

Defense generally makes the greatest impact early in the season. Offenses are rusty and are forced to face every different look a defense has. As the season goes on, defenses are figured out, teams exploit the holes with more regularity and vigor, and defense falls more to individual players. I'm very glad the Thunder are a net positive from this new offense-defense rating, but I am a little wary that this may have something to do with individual desires.

Players like to score, like to run, and like to beat their opponent. It's the reason the Suns/Warriors almost always get their opponent to fall into their pace during the regular season. The defensive system we have is keeping us together, but a 104 rating is only league average defense. 109 on offense is elite offense, but winning with offense is a rather poor turn for a team like ours. We are a still a jump-shooting team, remember, and the offense simply will not always be there. Defense will, if we want it.

Sorry, didn't finish my thought in my previous post. It was something along the lines of, "Who'd have thought that at this point in the season, we could wind up with double our win total from last year and yet be vaguely disappointed because we feel we should have done better?"

I think we are getting a little tired, a little sore, we can do look dow at times now, but the entire game is just too taxing.

41 wins doesn't QUITE guarantee us a winning season. It does, however, guarantee us a .500 season. Seriously, who would have thought that with 17 games to go in the season, we'd be able to say, "All they have to do is win just ONE of their next seventeen games, to get a winning season?" And lest we forget, it only takes five wins the rest of the way to double what we did last year...

More than 5 points better on offense at home.

They are better on defense on the road (still 3rd best) than home (6th). But there is only 1/2 a point difference on efficiency.

Miami's offense has been on recently. New Orleans probably will be with the combination of the return of Paul and a lot of meaningless games. Detroit has been hot. Kings a tick better.

Hard to say where OKC ends up on offense. I doubt they will rise beyond 13th and 20th is still possible.

Actually, scratch that. I'm an idiot. Russ was 7th in February in AST/TO, but behind low-usage guys or backups (Sundiata Gaines and Hamed Haddadi among them). Among starting PGs, he led the league with a 4.40 ratio. That's STELLAR.

They are sure to finish top 10 on defense. The competition is tough. 6th - 8th, that's still great.

Where will they finish the season on offense? 15th or above would be another fine accomplishment. Even with the surge they are only a bit over 0.3 points above 18th.

After the all-star break, Westbrook has been averaging 9.7 assists, while only turning it over 3 times per game. That's a 3.23 AST/TO ratio, and it's the single biggest reason that our offensive efficiency has really taken off. Russ was 5th in the league in AST/TO ratio in February.

He's clearly becoming comfortable within the offense, and he knows the tendencies of every player from KD to Ibaka. What does this mean? I can definitely see us getting 50+ wins and getting to the second round, depending on the matchup.

We're only going as far as Russell takes us... but with the way he's playing I really like our chances to make some noise for the rest of the season.

While I love the defensive side, balancing a bit with the offense is what will get us the recognition beyond the hardcore fans.