Fully Charged: Thunder Playing at Best Under High Rest

The Oklahoma City Thunder have strived off of rest this season.

After an action-packed week of play, the Thunder will get to recharge their battery.

As mentioned in yesterday’s schedule piece, the Oklahoma City Thunder will get some much-needed rest over the course of the week, downsizing from a four-game road stand, highlighted by a back-to-back set, down to a measly two games on tap.

In the Thunder’s course of action, the franchise will tap into their biggest resting period of the season, taking a three-day halt before taking on the Indiana Pacers on Friday evening.

With the Oklahoma City Thunder latching to 10 players 23 years old or younger, it bears the question – is the rookie wall impacting Bricktown’s battalion?

Currently stooping atop a 14-32 record, good for the second-worst record in the West, resting periods have become a pivotal part of Mark Daigneault’s group, and their success, 46 games into the season.

Here’s how the Thunder have fared with various stints of rest:

Back-to-Back Sets

Justin Ford / USA Today

For Oklahoma City, they have become accustomed to playing on day turnarounds. On the flipside, they’ve also been one to falter to fatigue.

In the Thunder’s eight back-to-back cappers this season, they have posted a combined 1-7 record through play.

Scheduling across back-to-backs have not presented favorable opponents for the Thunder as a playoff-heavy pool of teams in the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics, and the Phoenix Suns, who they faced on two separate occasions drew difficult tasks. That sentiment holds true even more so when accounting for the team’s hasty turnaround to tip.

However, even with a grueling schedule on short notice, one game has stood out from the pack – December 2 versus the Memphis Grizzlies.

During the Thunder’s third back-to-back of the year, Memphis hounded Oklahoma City in historic fashion, dismantling Daigneault’s core to the tune of a 152-79 thrashing – calling for the biggest defeat in NBA history at 73 points.

One-Day Breaks

Sam Sharpe / USA Today

Under a day's worth of rest, the Oklahoma City Thunder have placed nearly 50% of their games in such conditions. Though, in the case of the loss column, such contests have resulted in over two-thirds of their thrashings.

A spotty 5-21 record has painted the Thunder’s palette in singular days of rest. Through these performances 65.6% of losses have come in this category.

Oddly enough, momentum has maneuvered one-day success’ as all five of the team’s victories have come through win streaks of three and two, respectively.

Unlike back-to-back sets which have seen veterans in Mike Muscala and Derrick Favors regularly raise a raincheck, one-day gaps have laid out a regular rotation with members in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort notch averages of over 30 minutes.

Two-Day Breaks

Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today

With a Thunder roster constantly learning the ropes of NBA play, the occasional two-day breather has helped reload Daigneault’s warchest to yield some victories in the process.

In Oklahoma City’s plays with two-day breaks, the group has staked 50% of their regular-season victories, mustering up a 7-4 record.

After opening the season on a paltry 1-6 stand, the Thunder caught a major breather netting three-consecutive games with two days of rest. In their chance to charge up, they caught a much-needed hot streak.

Across the team’s three-game slate, the franchise pivoted from bottom-dweller status to encroaching in play-in territory, rattling out a three-game streak crossing through the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs, and the New Orleans Pelicans.

With a one-day break following New Orleans, the Thunder continued to writhe in regeneration, bolstering their streak to four against the Sacramento Kings. Their mid-November streak still holds as the franchise’s best of the year.

Three-Day Breaks

Rick Osentoski / USA Today

Three-day breaks have been a true royalty for the Thunder squadron, but in minimal appearances – they’ve played at their best.

Across a pair of three-day breaks, Oklahoma City has split a pair of games on a 1-1 record.

The Thunder’s regular-season opener frolics into this category as following a full offseason of rest, the Utah Jazz rocked the Thunder by 21-points. However, while in the motions of the NBA day-to-day, they’ve been golden.

Oklahoma City’s lengthy mid-season break came at timely, as their 72 hours of rest followed their historic 73-point defeat against the Grizzlies. Even better for the group, they battled the league’s worst team, the Detroit Pistons, at home.

They took the matchup 114-103.

Oklahoma City’s rest brought the best out of the stars as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort carried the torch with 30 points and 28 points, respectively. To add to the Thunder’s triumph, their rest was a determining factor as the group dominated in the fourth – outscoring the Pistons 42-22 in the frame.

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