OKC’s defense thriving off deflections

A big reason why the Thunder has been so good defensively: it’s dominating in deflections.

The Thunder has 637 deflections this season, No. 1 in the NBA and 106 more than second-place Utah. The mass of deflections has led to a league-high 323 loose balls recovered, according to NBA.com/ stats.

Russell Westbrook and

Paul George are Nos. 1 and 2 in the NBA in loose balls recovered with 69 and

61, respectively. George has the most steals in the league with 82 and Westbrook is second with 73.

Aside from Westbrook's athleticism and George's wingspan, Thunder coach Billy Donovan said much of the team's ability to get to loose balls is instinctive.

“I think our guys have an idea of when deflections could possibly occur for us, so they’re probably a little bit more on edge or ready to maybe figure out what passes could be potentially deflected and where they could potentially go,” Donovan said. “But you’ve gotta have guys that are good at that.”

The Thunder and Utah are the only teams with four players (George, Westbrook, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson) ranked in the Top 50 in deflections. Anthony said the Thunder gets so many it’s hard to keep up with where the ball is on defense.

“A lot of times you look back on film, Coach might say, ‘You got to get those 50-50 basketballs,’ but you just don’t know,” Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony said. “We get so many deflections, and that’s something that we work on in practice, something that we go into the game and say that we want to do that. We change the outcome of the game when we play like that.”

Melo talks new All-Star format

The NBA has changed up its All-Star team selection this season, as the player with the most votes from each conference will serve as a captain, picking a team of players regardless of conference affiliation.

Fan, player and media voting will still determine who makes the All-Star Game, but the teams will be a mix of the best from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference.

But the new format could mean some hurt feelings, or some incredible drama and TV ratings.

The NBA, however, has chosen not to air the captains' picks for the Feb. 18 game, even if the results will likely be leaked between the “draft” day and All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. The captains will first select from the eight remaining players voted as starters, then choose from the pool of players voted as reserves.

Anthony thinks keeping the selection order behind closed doors is a good idea.

“I think that’s something you should keep in house,” said Anthony, a 10-time All-Star. “I don’t think everybody, the outside world needs to kind of be on the inside of that.

“The flip side of that, you’ll have a lot of players that’s kind of mad at whoever the captains are. Guys are gonna be mad, guys are gonna be upset. Friendships could come into to play. But I think it’s a fun thing to do. I think it’s time that you got to switch it up. It’s time that you got to figure it out for the All-Star Game, bring back that excitement — not just for the weekend, but for the game itself. They’re gonna try it. If it works, then they came up with a hell of an idea.”

NBA All-Star fan voting ends Jan. 15.

Schedule breaks and non-breaks

The Thunder has had some good fortune and some tight scheduling in it successful month of December.

With the Bucks in town Friday, the Thunder will face its fourth opponent playing on the second night of a back-to-back this month. The Thunder is 3-0 against those opponents in December.

During its 12-3 month, OKC has won games against teams missing key players such as Rudy Gobert (twice against Utah), Chris Paul (Houston), Mike Conley (Memphis), as well as San Antonio not playing multiple starters (Tony Parker, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kawhi Leonard, Rudy Gay).

The schedule has also been a grind for the Thunder this month, having played either a back-toback or every other day since Dec. 1, including six in nine days from Dec. 15-23. One of the Thunder’s three losses was after a triple overtime win over Philadelphia the night before.

Ferguson assigned to Blue

Rookie guard Terrance Ferguson has been assigned to the Oklahoma City Blue and is expected to play against the Salt Lake City Stars on Friday in Salt Lake City. In 21 games, the 6-foot-7 Ferguson is averaging 1.3 points and shooting 38.7 percent in 6.7 minutes per game.