One of the biggest advantages the OKC Thunder have over essentially every other team in the association is their ridiculous roster depth.
Coach Mark Daigneault regularly finds himself going 10-to-12 men deep with his rotations, and throughout the year, he often changes up the starting five based on matchups.
In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Oklahoma City continued to utilize this particular luxury, though ultimately to no avail, as they were upset by the Indiana Pacers in front of their home crowd to the tune of a 111-110 loss.
Considering the contest had the makings of an easy blowout win for the Thunder, what with them forcing a whopping 24 turnovers and shooting a total of 16 more shots, the team is likely scrambling to find answers ahead of Sunday’s Game 2, as they’re in need of a game plan to even up this series.
While there are certainly a number of things that could be tweaked, perhaps the easiest alteration would be to pull Cason Wallace out of the starting five and roll with the double-big lineup fans grew accustomed to seeing during the regular season and for the majority of this playoff run.
Thunder must axe Cason Wallace experiment in Game 2
During the Finals’ series opener, coach Daigneault opted to experiment with a starting lineup consisting of beloved guard Cason Wallace in an effort to match Indiana’s elite pace of play. Such a decision relegated Isaiah Hartenstein to the pine.
While it certainly proved successful in the speed department, as the Thunder matched Indiana at 102.50, the increase in usage for the 6-foot-3 sophomore turned into somewhat of an advantage for the Pacers, as they frequently were seen hunting the small-ball mismatches with guys like Pascal Siakam.
One game should have been all fans and the coaching staff needed to realize that sticking to what has worked for this club in the past is the best course of action moving forward.
Throughout both the regular season and playoffs, the Thunder have gone a tremendous 27-9 while having both Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in the starting lineup. They also rank in the 95 percentile in points per 100 possessions (123.4), 96 percentile in point differential (+13.5), and 99 percentile in effective field goal percentage (60.8) when utilizing the twin-tower tandem.
As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Oklahoma City got to this point with the usual suspects of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Isaiah Hartenstein filling out the first five rotation.
In Game 2, they need to go back to this particular unit as they look to even up the series at one win apiece.
