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The Thunder Lowdown: A Weekly Deep Dive | Week 2

Zachary Low
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As exciting as Week 1 was for Oklahoma City Thunder fans, Week 2 brought another level of enthusiasm as the Thunder continues down a path of historical measure. The Thunder has won a franchise-record 6 straight games to open up the season, and they have set an NBA record on the way to those victories by winning each game by at least 12 points. They have a chance to extend the streak tonight as they host the Orlando Magic, but before we get to the game, let’s take a deeper dive into the details of OKC’s Week 2.

5 Things I Loved About Week 2

  1. Convincing wins | OKC isn’t just winning games to start the season; they’re dominating opponents. Despite trailing for a chunk of the first three quarters against the LA Clippers—by as many as 13 points early on—the Thunder has come alive late when it really matters. The Thunder’s win differential of 17.7 points is third in the NBA so far, and their +/- is second to only the Golden State Warriors. While they’re unlikely to keep up this pace for the entire season, beating teams convincingly is key to building confidence and establishing consistency over time.
  2. Three-point shooting continues to trend upwards | After a pretty abysmal first couples of games of shooting the ball from deep, the Thunder has come alive to absolutely torch some teams. After knocking down just 27.6% of their 38.7 attempts per game through Week 1, OKC shot a flaming 40.3% on 43.0 attempts per game in Week 2. The high number of attempts, particularly compared to last season’s 34.2 per game, is likely to lower over time, but if they can keep knocking them at such a high rate, then why not fire away.
  3. Bulls fans think Chicago ‘fleeced’ OKC in Giddey-Caruso trade | Chicago Bulls fan account @DieHardCBFans on X formerly known as Twitter has sent out a barrage of tweets in the last week, all claiming that the Bulls ‘fleeced’ the Thunder in the trade that sent Josh Giddey to Chicago in exchange for Alex Caruso.

The reason why I like this perspective is two-fold. First off, I’m genuinely happy for Josh Giddey. His skillset simply did not fit in with the chemistry of this version of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and while he was able to do some things well, he wasn’t able to completely flourish. Now that he’s in Chicago, he can function in a role that will allow him to move towards his full potential. I loved Giddey, and I sincerely hope he has a long, successful career.

The other reason I love these tweets from this account is because it shows you just how limited a perspective can be based on numbers alone. Sure, Giddey’s offensive stats are far and away better than Caruso’s, but that’s not at all why we brought in Caruso. I have very little concern about Caruso’s ability to hit shots and score points when needed. I was constantly concerned about Giddey’s ability to play defense, and that is one thing I will not have to worry about with Caruso.

Josh Giddey’s offensive stats are blowing Alex Caruso’s out of the water right now, but Giddey is also a team-worst -34 in total +/- for the Chicago Bulls this season. Meanwhile, Alex Caruso is 5th on the Thunder in +/- with a +56. A single stat does not tell the entire story, especially because OKC is a much better team than Chicago, but it does point out that just because you’re winning a stat war does NOT mean that you won the trade.

  1. Shai and Chet hint at future in OKC | It’s hard to take professional athletes at face value, especially when they make comments about longterm stays with their current team, but it’s hard not to be excited about some brief commentary between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren. In their postgame media session after defeating the Clippers in LA, a report asked about their impression of the new Intuit Dome, and after answering, Chet made a comment about OKC’s new arena, which should be finished the summer prior to the 2028-29 season. If this is any indication into their desires for a longterm stay in OKC, then Thunder fans are going to be enjoying high quality basketball for a long time.
  1. Kevin Garnett gives high praise to the Thunder | Excuse the language in this clip, but it’s pretty cool to see an NBA legend like Kevin Garnett to give high remarks to the Thunder, particularly for their tenacious play. Garnett was one of the most stubborn players in the modern era, so for him to label the Thunder as a bunch of dogs is about as high of a compliment as he can throw out.
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4 Things I Hated About Week 2

  1. Mark Daigneault keeps tinkering with lineups | OKC is yet to be at full strength, so it’s hard to really tell who is going to start, who is going to play when, and who all is going to get minutes. Still, I feel like Mark has been a bit loose with some of the lineups so far, particularly early in games. Last season featured plenty of experimenting, which was really just figuring out who was who, but now that the expectations are much higher, it’d be nice to see the playing time tighten up a bit, at least for the early parts of most games.
  2. JWill aggrivated his existing injury | It was reported last week that Jaylin Williams irritated his right hamstring, and he will be re-evaluated sometime in December. JWill’s role for OKC is a unique one, and while he may rarely see more than 20-25 on even his best night, he’s still a guy that I love to see on the floor. Fans love the energy that he brings, and hopefully this will be the last setback for him this season.
  3. Draymond Green said something dumb again | On Draymond Green’s podcast last week, he told former NBA player Baron Davis that “The one thing I see about the OKC team that’s alarming to me is their postgame…There’s a certain seriousness it takes to win in this league.” Basically, he think it’s weird that teammates actually like each other and want to do things together. He went on to say, “There’s a certain fear you have to instill in teams in order to win. I just don’t know if they’re instilling that fear in teams with all the bromance and stuff after the game.” Obviously putting fear into your opponent’s heart gives you a competitive edge, but thinking that the unity of the Thunder is a weakness rather than a strength is just a wild take, even for him.
  4. Rebounding still looks like an issue | Last season, a lot of fuss was made over the Thunder’s inability to rebound the basketball. Through 6 games, OKC has lost the rebounding battle 5 times, and it hasn’t proven to be too much of a problem so far, but it feels like it could be moving forward. It would be nice to see some of those numbers move in the Thunder’s direction as the season progresses.

3 Highlights I Liked From Week 2

  1. Chet Holmgren gets the stop not once, but TWICE, to start the game | I believe this possession set the tone not just for this game but for the entire weekend of games. On the opening possession of the Thunder hosting the Spurs last Wednesday, Chet Holmgren makes an incredible play to interrupt a lob from Jeremy Sochan to Victor Wembanyama only to turn around and block Sochan’s putback attempt, dropping the ball into Luguentz Dort’s hands.
  1. JDub’s buzzer beater headed into halftime in Portland | Even the best teams have to weather some storms, and that’s exactly what OKC did against the Blazers in Portland on Friday. After leading by 17 early in the second quarter, the Thunder watched their lead dwindle into a 3-point deficit right before halftime. Jalen Williams put up a running three just before time expired for halftime which tied the game back up, and that little bit of momentum was symbolic of how this team can take hit after hit after hit and still stand in the middle of the ring ready to fight.
  1. Ball movement leads to buckets | One of my favorite things about the Thunder offense is when the ball gets moving quickly as the guys find a great shot, not just a good one. In this clip, Luguentz Dort could have taken the first shot in the paint, but he decided to pass it to Jalen Williams, who also could’ve gone up for a layup attempt, but instead, Williams went right back to Dort for the easy layup. Easy buckets count just as much as the fancy ones, so sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go.

2 Things I’d Like to See in Week 3

  1. No big runs from the other team | One of the more frustrating aspects of basketball is the ability for any team to go on a run at any given time. The best teams are the best because they are able to stop the bleeding before it gets out of control. I would really like to see OKC get better at not giving up big runs. The Blazers went on a 32-15 run in the second quarter on Friday night to turn a potential blowout into a competitive game, and the Clippers went on a 10-0 run right before halftime on Saturday night to make things difficult for OKC.
  2. Stay out of foul trouble | I don’t know if it was just the prerogative of the officials or if the Thunder were genuinely playing too physically, but I’d really like to see OKC stay out of foul trouble. Chet Holmgren barely played on Friday night in Portland because he picked up his third foul before halftime and his fourth foul early in the third quarter. It ended up not making a difference in the final score, but still, we need our guy on the court. Alex Caruso played his season-low in minutes on Saturday against the Clippers, picking up 4 fouls in under 16 minutes of play. Regardless of the reasoning for some of these situations, I’d really like to see OKC continue to play defense at a high level but without all of the foul issues.

1 Bold Prediction for Week 3

  1. OKC wins 4 more to move to 10-0 on the season | This seems about as bold of a prediction as I can make right now. OKC is absolutely rolling, but they have some real competition in the upcoming week. Tonight’s game against Orlando shouldn’t be a difficult one because they are missing their best player in Paolo Banchero, but taking on the Nuggets in Denver on Wednesday will be a tough matchup. Beating a good team twice in a short amount of time is exceedingly difficult, and the Nuggets will have made some adjustments. Hosting the Houston Rockets on Friday and the Golden State Warriors on Sunday will also be challenging meetings. Still, I can see the Thunder continuing their historic streak to start the season.
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