Red Mosquito

verb_to_trust wrote:Who is going to guard Westbrook? Igoudala? Klay? I'd love to see Curry get beasted but they are going to hide him.

Despite the Warriors' historic shooting and attacking defense, the Thunder do have some opportunities that they can look to exploit. On the offensive side, the Warriors have most frequently matched up Klay Thompson against Westbrook, but this is a matchup the Thunder can exploit. In the 89 possessions that Thompson has guarded Westbrook this season, the Thunder have scored at a rate of 127 points per 100 possessions. One of the main avenues for them to exploit this matchup is on pick-and-rolls. Typically, the Warriors have done a great job limiting the value of Westbrook in a pick-and-roll at the top of the key, letting the Thunder score only 0.9 points per chance, but when Thompson is guarding him, the Thunder are scoring 1.2 points per chance from pick-and-roll's at the top of the key. That is still not quite Westbrook's season average, but still very effective.

The biggest threat the Thunder face on the offensive end comes in the form of Andre Iguodala, who will likely be matched up against the thunder's most efficient scorer, Durant. Among players who took at least 1,000 shots this season, Durant ranks fourth with a 55.9% eFG, behind only Stephen Curry, Thompson, and Kawhi Leonard, despite taking the second hardest shots by qSQ (which uses the location and movement of the shooter and defenders, as well as the type of shot to measure the eFG% of an average player on that shot) of anyone in the top 10 in eFG% this season (Chris Paul took the hardest shots and was 10th in eFG%). When he has been marked by Iguodala this season however, this incredibly proficient scorer drops down to a 46% eFG which is Jamal Crawford/Evan Turner territory. Typically about 25 percent of Durant's shots are pull-up jumpers, and he has a 52 percent eFG on those shots -- below his average. Iguodala, however, has forced Durant to take pull-up jumpers far more frequently (40 percent of his shots) and has defended them better (25 eFG%). So the Thunder will need to minimize the opportunities for the Warriors to put Iguodala on Durant, and Durant will have to look to pass out of that matchup instead of taking the pull-up jumper of last resort.

Monkey_Driven wrote:9 pm can't get here soon enough.

Who is Westbrook going to guard? He has not fared well guarding Curry this year.

Monkey_Driven wrote:I feel like Westbrook is on the verge of Hulking out in the second half. Either in a positive or negative way for the Thunder.