Third quarter focus
During the Thunder’s current six-game win streak, Oklahoma City has shot dramatically better in the third quarter than it did during the first 29 games of the season.
Billy Donovan has talked about pace and complacency. He’s stressed setting a tone and cautioned against stagnancy.
The Thunder’s thirdquarter struggles are no secret, and Donovan’s had no interest in keeping them quiet.
Oklahoma City is starting on a path to fixing them, and the first step was admitting the problem.
Donovan stressed it to his team, and lately it’s responded.
“We know that early on in the season that was a point that we were struggling at, coming out of that third quarter,” Carmelo Anthony said. “We’ve turned that all the way around right now.”
Maybe not all the way around.
But the Thunder is moving in that direction, at least offensively.
In its first 29 games, OKC averaged 97 points per 100 possessions third quarters, fourth-fewest in the NBA. Over the past six games, it’s scoring 119.2 points per 100 possessions in the third. That’s third-most in the league.
In two wins against Utah and one each against Houston and Toronto during its current streak, OKC outscored its opponents 129-100 in third quarters.
The Thunder is playing with “a different focus” in the third, Anthony said.
It’s also making a lot more shots.
For 29 games, Oklahoma City had the lowest third-quarter field-goal percentage in the league
at 40.8 percent. In the past six games, it’s shooting 53.6 percent from the floor in the third, best in the NBA.
Anthony, Russell Westbrook and Paul George are shooting a combined 12.7 times per third quarter in this current streak, slightly down from their combined 14.2 shots per third quarter in the first 29 games.
But they're shooting dramatically better.
Over the past six games, Anthony’s shooting 47.4 percent from the floor in third quarters, up from 37.7 percent in the first 29 games.
Westbrook’s thirdquarter shooting is up from 34.4 percent to a sizzling 66.7 percent.
George’s third-quarter shooting has held steady — it’s up from 40.6 to 40.7 percent during the winning streak — but he’s made 55.6 of his thirdquarter 3-pointers over the past six games.
The Thunder’s big three is a combined 14 of 24 from 3-point range in third quarters in this sixgame span.
Even in its hot streak, though, the Thunder’s had some third-quarter clunkers.
The first of its six straight wins came against Denver in a game the Nuggets outscored OKC 32-18 in the third. Two games later, the Hawks poured the Thunder 31-18 in the third but lost.
The Nuggets and Hawks stormed back from big deficits by thumping the Thunder in the third. Those two teams shot a combined 24 of 42 from the floor in the third quarter.
And while Oklahoma City’s offense has erupted in the third quarter, its defense has been up and down.
During its win streak, the Thunder is allowing 114.7 points per 100 possessions in the third quarter, up from 106.7 in the first 29 games.
Still, it’s outscoring its opponents by 4.5 points per 100 possessions in third quarters during the past six games.
In the 29 games before, it was outscored by an average of 9.7 points per 100 possessions in the third.
That’s not enough to satisfy Donovan, who called Friday’s game against Milwaukee “another test” of sustaining success into the second half.
“We’ve done it for five games, but we’re 30-plus games into the season, and five out of (35) games ... it’s not great,” Donovan said. “It’s not. But we’ve done it here of late.”