 PO 2011 1st Round : Thunder (4) vs Nuggets (5) |
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posté par AiR1 : | April 28, 2011
Paint Patrol
Ibaka, Perkins Solidify OKC D
by Kevin Pelton
Early in the season, one of the league's most pressing questions was whether the Oklahoma City Thunder's defense could overcome the loss of assistant coach Ron Adams, the architect of a top-10 defense in 2009-10. Without Adams' attention to detail, the Thunder slipped badly in the early part of the season. Oklahoma City overcame that thanks to a series of close wins and an improved offense, but porous defense still loomed as a major issue looking ahead to the postseason.
Skip ahead to April and any such concern is long in the rear-view mirror. The Thunder's defensive fortunes changed dramatically with the deadline-day deal for Kendrick Perkins of the Boston Celtics. The deal improved Oklahoma City's defense at two positions. Not only was Perkins a major upgrade over Nenad Krstic after he recovered from an MCL injury that sidelined him for nearly his first month with the Thunder, sending out Jeff Green allowed premier shot blocker Serge Ibaka to claim his rightful place as Oklahoma City's starting power forward.
The Thunder's five-game playoff series win over the Denver Nuggets has been the ultimate testament to the team's upgraded interior defense. Only the Celtics have held their opponent further below their regular-season Offensive Rating than Oklahoma City, a statement that remains true even when we account for the Nuggets' own deadline deal.
Denver has found the paint walled off by the duo of Ibaka and Perkins--which badly needs a nickname; I'm thinking "The Bouncers"--as evidenced by a number of remarkable statistics. All by himself, Ibaka has blocked more shots (24) than six teams that have played an equal number of playoff games. Overall, the Thunder swatted away one in seven Denver attempts inside the two-point line (14.7 percent, to be exact), most of them at the rim. According to NBA.com's StatsCube, the Nuggets shot 51 percent inside the restricted area in this series. During the regular season, Denver made 60 percent of those shots.
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