Oklahoma City Thunder: 1-3
The Oklahoma City Thunder will be a tough team for anyone to play this upcoming season, and the Trail Blazers will have their work cut out for them in his matchup.
Losing Carmelo Anthony is likely addition by subtraction as he there seemed to be fit-problems there, and the Thunder increased their depth behind Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Steven Adams with Dennis Shroder, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Nerlens Noel.
I believe the way to beat this OKC team is to stress tons of off-ball movement with anyone who Westbrook is guarding. Because of his ultra-high usage rate on the offensive end (34.1 percent last season), he has a tendency to fall asleep when his assignment is constantly moving.
With Lillard and McCollum both being knockdown shooters and strong finishers, they should use the full width and depth of the floor to try and catch Westbrook taking a moment of focus off of them.
Of course, they will also need to attempt to stop Westbrook when he has the ball in his hands. And maybe the best way to do this is to let him shoot a high-volume of three-pointers in hopes he is having an off-night from the floor – as a .298 percent three-point shooter last season, this could easily happen to him.
Paul George will be a whole other problem. He is a star on offense and a fantastic defender, both on- and off-ball, who can guard multiple positions. Him alongside Andre Roberson will spell trouble for the Blazers between the two and four positions. And without Melo soaking up some minutes with his less-than-spectacular defensive tendencies, the Thunder will only be a stronger team on that side of the ball.
When the OKC starters go to the bench, Portland will still have to worry about a decent defender in Shroder picking up the slack against Curry and McCollum, along with a rim-protector in Noel to protect the basket.
And don’t forget about Steven Adams. He is a glass-cleaning machine. Of his nine rebounds per game last season, more than five came on the offensive end. Imagine how many more boards he would grab if Westbrook wasn’t gobbling some of them up.
Nurkic, whose focus has been inconsistent thus far in his career, will need to zero in on Adams each and every time a shot goes up. Second-chance points against this lethal Thunder team will be backbreakers.
The question over the Thunder will be one of consistency. How often do they move the ball like a well-oiled machine to their several specialists, and how often does Russ hijack the offense with bad shot-selection?
I’m high on this Thunder team. But Portland could easily matchup against them when the pieces just aren’t coming together. If the Blazers can keep the ball from sticking from any one player, their chances will be greater than if they try to take on this Thunder defense one-on-one.
Watch for the Blazers to dare the Thunder’s worse shooters to shoot, and watch for the Thunder to smother all that Rip City has to offer.