The Oklahoma City Thunder are exploiting a major flaw in the Spurs' defensive game plan. By committing so many defenders to stop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's drives, San Antonio is leaving shooters wide open behind the 3-point line — and Alex Caruso is making them pay in a major way.
Spurs designed defense around stopping SGA
The Spurs have designed their entire defense to shut off penetration. Victor Wembanyama lurks in the lane while wings dig down to road-block drivers, notably Oklahoma City's MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
This strategy forced SGA into a 7-of-23 shooting night on a heavy jump shot diet in Game 1. He responded with a more efficient 30-point showing in Game 2, but again, almost entirely from the perimeter — ten of his 12 buckets were heavily contested jumpers.
The cost: leaving shooters open behind the 3-point line.
Caruso's incredible breakout
Through two games in this series (tied 1-1 ahead of Friday night's Game 3), Caruso is an incredible 11 for 18 from 3 (61%). He's scored 48 points — 31 in Game 1 when he hit eight 3s, and 17 more in Game 2 as he went 3 of 4 from downtown.
This is a guy who made just 29% of his 3s this season and averaged 6.2 PPG. To say he's punching above his weight class would be an understatement.
Wide open looks
Caruso is getting such ridiculously open shots that it's not unbelievable he's making more of them than usual. In Game 1, Wembanyama was assigned to Caruso specifically so he could ignore him to stand in the paint and clog up SGA's driving lanes.
For an NBA shooter, even a not particularly good one, this is a practice shot. NBA tracking defines a "wide open" shot as the nearest defender being six feet away. Caruso is getting double-wide looks.
Wallace contributing too
It's not just Caruso. Cason Wallace has six 3s through the first two games. He's not being ignored as egregiously as Caruso because statistically he's a better 3-point shooter, but he's still being left as Wembanyama sinks down to cut off SGA's drives.
Series implications
The Spurs are going to keep playing this way. Slowing Gilgeous-Alexander's drives and clogging up the paint is the priority. They are going to force the Thunder to make enough jumpers to beat them four times in this series.
In Game 1, the Thunder made 17 3-pointers; 11 came from their bench. In Game 2, they made 13 3-pointers, 12 came from their bench: Wallace (4), Caruso (3), Jared McCain (3), Jaylin Williams (2).
If the efficiency doesn't regress and they continue to punish the Spurs for their paint-based defense, it's going to be very difficult to overcome all the other challenges OKC presents. This is the biggest X-factor in this series.