NEW YORK — Thunder coach Billy Donovan can recite Thunder opponents' 3-point percentages off the top of his head, and leading into OKC's game at Philadelphia on Saturday he didn't like the trend he was seeing.
But keeping the 76ers to 34.4 percent from beyond the arc in the Thunder's 117-115 win was enough for Donovan to say he was happy with his team's defense.
"We really worked today," Donovan said after the game. "We did not do a great job in the first half at the 3-point line. We were OK. I thought in the third quarter we were really good limiting their number of attempts. I'll look at the numbers, but I thought our effort was really good for the most part."
The numbers supported Donovan's evaluation. The Sixers found a rhythm at the 3-point line in the second quarter, shooting 6-of-15 (40 percent) from beyond the arc in that period. But Philadelphia made just three more 3-pointers for the rest of the game. Landry Shamet, who sank all three of his 3-point attempts in the second quarter, didn't take another shot from deep.
Finally 3-point coverage wasn't a pitfall for the Thunder. In a stretch of five losses in six games leading into Saturday, Thunder opponents shot 43.1 percent from 3-point range. Before Jan. 6, OKC opponents were shooting 33.5 percent from beyond the arc.
"It's a huge jump," Donovan said. "When you have teams that are taking 30-plus or they're making 18-of-19 3s, you've got to have urgency to get out there."
He saw that urgency from his team, but a different problem arose. The Thunder fouled shooters beyond or just inside the 3-point line five times, resulting in 13 free throws.
"We don't fly through the air, that's not we do," Donovan said. "We need to get there on the catch and be there on the catch. And I thought a lot of times we were out of position because we were scrambling to get there. The urgency to get there was great, by Abdel (Nader), by Hami (Hamidou Diallo), it was great. But the technique of what they were doing wasn't great."
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