The Oklahoma City Thunder have an opportunity to make changes on Tuesday-Stiles Points

Tuesday’s matchup with New Orleans presents the Oklahoma City Thunder with an opportunity to make adjustments following their lopsided setback on Sunday.

The final game of a three-game road trip will be played on Tuesday between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Orleans Pelicans. In a rare blowout loss on Sunday, the Thunder were outplayed by the Milwaukee Bucks. The calculation for these losses hasn’t changed, though.

This season, Oklahoma City has found it difficult to play against long, physical teams that can make star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander play in a crowded court. These teams are adept at defensive gap closing and can fly out to shooters to make life difficult for the Thunder’s complementary scorers. It will be difficult for OKC to win once Gilgeous-Alexander is limited and the shots stop falling.

The Thunder have only suffered a few double-digit losses this season because few teams can replicate this formula, but New Orleans can. Against a team that features Jonas Valanciunas and Zion Williams down low, with Herb Jones being one of Gilgeous-Alexander’s most difficult opponents, how will the Thunder react?

Despite Brandon Ingram’s absence, the Pelicans still have the makings of a difficult opponent for Oklahoma City.

The Thunder can instantly put their modifications into practice by cleaning their palate against a team that matches up similarly to their opponent on Sunday.

Stiles Points: 

• The Oklahoma City Thunder saw their April 2nd game against the Boston Celtics flexed to National Television now playing on ESPN in Boston. The Thunder will try for the season-sweep against the Celtics after a thrilling win at home in early January.
• Despite leaving Sunday’s game early with a hit to the face, Lu Dort is not listed on the Thunder’s injury report. Oklahoma City will have their defensive ace on Tuesday against New Orleans.
• This is the front end of the first of three back-to-backs between now and the end of the regular season for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The second leg comes against the red-hot Rockets on Wednesday inside the Paycom Center.
• The Oklahoma City Thunder move to a full game back of the first-seeded Denver Nuggets with just a half-game cushion on the Minnesota Timberwolves in third place. The Thunder as of now control the tiebreaker against both.