23-05-2025
Why the Thunder's versatility makes them hard to beat
Why the Thunder's versatility makes them hard to beat | The Kevin O'Connor Show
Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O'Connor reacts to Oklahoma City's win in Game 1 over the Minnesota Timberwolves and why the Thunder's ability to beat teams in multiple ways makes them so dangerous. Hear the full conversation on 'The Kevin O'Connor Show' and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
View more
Video Transcript
Okc just looks far more versatile.
Advertisement
That's obvious watching them as they won 68 games all regular season.
It's been clear throughout the postseason and very clear again in game one, because Isaiah Harenstein plays only 20 minutes.
He averaged 27.5 minutes last round.
OKC can play two bigs, they can play one big, Chet Holmgren, like the, the stats don't pop up off the screen.
He had 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks.
I thought Chet was awesome in the game.
He played great defense, played great offensively, did everything he had to do, and he's the one big out there.
For a lot of those lineups, and so, OK, so you can play with different lineups, different configurations out there, they can play with a bunch of guards, they can play with a bunch of length, they can play with two bigs or 1 big, they can beat you taking half their shots in the paint, they can beat you taking half their shots from 3.
Advertisement
And so I understand.
So much of the discourse is about Gilda Alexander, he's flopping and flailing, like, this isn't, this isn't pure basketball, you know, the, you know, I, I get it, I get that.
I, I completely understand that.
Some of the fouls are annoying.
I wish he didn't do it, but I understand why he does it when he's getting rewarded.
To me, that's more on the referees rewarding a guy for flopping more than I'm gonna I'm gonna blame a guy for taking advantage of stupid refs.
In reality, I wish the conversation was so much more about OKC as a basketball team.
This is a deep team with no weaknesses, they can shape shift, they can win playing any style at all, and they just pants a grizzled, experienced Minnesota team that was in the spot last year, that almost had a week of rest, a week of time to prepare for them.
Advertisement
But the reality is there's no preparing for the Oklahoma City Thunder, cause OKC can be whatever they want to be, or whatever they have to be on any given night, and that's why they're gonna win the series.
I picked them in 6, maybe it won't go that long unless Minnesota addresses some of these things that were major concerns in game one, and they're gonna win the series, whether SGA is getting 14 free throws a game or 0 free throws a game.
That's my main takeaway after this game one.
