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#3 Opportunities and threats
Oklahoma City Thunder
We've already discussed how Utah lack players who can score big points on any given night. Thus, the biggest opportunity for OKC will be the ability to focus their attention on a few players, especially Donovan Mitchell and Joe Ingles.
Given the quality of defense that Oklahoma City boasts of, playing lockdown defense against the two aforementioned names is absolutely possible and this would hurt Utah's offensive prowess to a great extent.
On the other hand, if OKC continue their brand of hustle, they might cause the Jazz into committing costly turnovers - something that they do more often than not - and score some crucial second-chance points.
OKC's bench is averaging 26.4 points per game whereas Utah's bench is managing 34.9 of the same. This means a points differential of 8.5 points between the second units of both these franchises. Hence, Oklahoma City's biggest threat would be falling behind when the bench comes in to play.
Playoffs games are bound to be closely contested ties and that puts OKC at risk. They have a poor efficiency of 40.6% in clutch situations - 22nd in the league - and this means that they might fail to close down games, something that has been a recurring problem for the franchise throughout the regular season.
Utah Jazz
Utah have brilliant rim protectors and paint defenders in the form of Jae Crowder and Rudy Gobert. This means that the Salt Lake City outfit will have the opportunity of forcing OKC to settle for jump shots which will definitely hurt the cause of the Thunder.
Oklahoma City Thunder have an efficiency of 38.3% and 35.4% for mid-range shots and 3-pointers respectively. This makes them the 7th-worst team in the league in both categories. Defense is Utah's primary weapon and it will make things easier for them if they are able to halt the flow of points for the Thunder.
While Utah have good defenders, they are not foolproof. With a stout Steven Adams slotting in the paint and a blazing fast Russell Westbrook participating in pick-and-rolls with him, OKC might just unlock Utah's paint area.
I'm going to say this out loud yet again. Utah don't have enough scorers. Offensive breakdowns are very likely to happen. OKC's fastbreak prowess coupled with a turnover-prone Utah Jazz spells disaster for Donovan Mitchell and Co.
In such a scenario, the Thunder might go on scoring runs with the Jazz failing to answer them back. And if the Thunder manage to find a permanent solution to restrict the dexterity of the Rookie of the Year contender from Utah, may the Lord help them!
Guess the Lakers players!
