OKC's offense: On the Block, Snake, Zone

I don't have the time to do a full Film Findings today but I do want to quickly highlight a few things I saw from Oklahoma City's offense in Game 2. (And yes the title of this post is a reference to the very bad movie, Black Snake Moan.)

First, I love this cross screen from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get Chet Holmgren a touch on the block early in the game. It's always fun when a team uses its top scorer as the screener to free somebody else, because the opposing defense typically goes haywire when that guy is the one setting the screen rather than receiving it. That doesn't quite happen here, but it causes enough of a hesitation that Chet nonetheless winds up with an easy touch and a basket.

Next up is the snaked ball screens. The Thunder found a lot of success with these, whether attacking Rudy Gobert (or another big) directly or generating a switch and using the mismatch to attack downhill.

Some of these are the types of shots a defense can typically live with in a game or in the regular season. In the long run, it's probably beneficial to force opponents into these types of looks. But we're not actually in the long run anymore. We're in a seven-game series, and the Wolves are already trailing.

When players keep getting to these spots and looking comfortable there, Gobert needs to come farther up the floor and take those shots away. And then he needs to not foul when he gets there. That's all easier said than done, of course, but that's what you expect of your All-Defense center.

Finally, we have OKC's zone offense.

This is just SO MUCH better than what we saw the Thunder doing against the Nuggets. They're getting the ball beyond the first layer of the defense and into the middle of the floor with such relative ease.

I noted in the Three Things preview of this series that this could happen, despite the fact that Minnesota is a much better defensive team than Denver. The playoffs are all about matchups and execution. The Nuggets executed their zone at about as high a level as is possible during a playoff series. The Wolves are not doing the same, and the Thunder look much more comfortable attacking it.