• Thunder working on cleaning up transition defense,
Russell Westbrook dove after the loose ball, but Kings guard De’Aaron Fox grabbed it out from under him. Then he took off down the floor. Paul George backpedaled down the center of the court, a few steps ahead of Fox.
As Fox neared the basket, he glanced to his left, where the Thunder had left Justin Jackson open. But Fox drove to the basket himself, scoring a layup to put Sacramento’s lead back to 10 points in the fourth quarter Sunday of OKC’s 131-120 loss.
Plenty went wrong for the Thunder defense that night. Coach Billy Donovan identified pick-and-roll coverage, communication and transition defense as aspects they focused on in film review.
But the Celtics could really hurt the Thunder in transition Thursday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena if they continue to play like they have.
“The challenge for us is that we’re such a good offensive rebounding team,” Donovan said after practice Wednesday, “but what we’ve got to understand is that there’s certain times where it doesn’t make sense to go offensive rebound with a particular player based on where that player is positioned on the floor.
“The likelihood of them coming down with an offensive rebound is really low, and we’d be much better suited as a team for a player like that to run back.”
The Thunder are
Maddie Lee STAFF WRITER
shooting 39 percent from the field through three games, putting them dead last in the league.
They are also leading the NBA with 16.3 offensive rebounds per game, but if OKC wants to keep its shooting woes from hurting it on defense as well, its track record has proven they can’t just rely on that ability.
While Donovan said he has been encouraged by the way his team has been creating good shots, even when they weren’t making them, Steven Adams pointed out that shot selection also plays into transition defense.
“Transition defense is really difficult if you take a bad shot and no one is really in their place, necessarily, to get back,” Adams said. “If they’re halfway through the play and you throw up just some shot, a lot of them are not in a position to get back in time.”
Blue names Woods assistant coach
The Oklahoma City Blue named former player Kameron Woods assistant coach, the team announced Wednesday.
Woods averaged 4.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in 99 games in the NBA G League.