Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault’s team is the youngest in the NBA this season, with an average player age of just 24.148 years old.
But now that the core of the team is gaining experience, Daigneault said it has become easier to prepare for players like Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
The Thunder and Warriors square off Sunday in Oklahoma City in a battle of two of the top teams in the Western Conference.
“The good news is with our continuity and our growing experience, we’re now at the point where we’ve played against him a lot,” Daigneault said of Curry. “There’s a cumulative effect to learning the league and learning the game plan over time.”
Defending Curry will still be plenty challenging, though.
Curry has averaged 19.7 points and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 40.8 percent from 3-point range. He has scored 21.0 points per game in his last three games after missing the previous three contests due to a left ankle injury.
“If you blink, he’s going to be open and he’s going to shoot and make a shot,” Daigneault said. “It doesn’t make it easier to execute it, but I think our familiarity has increased over time.”
For Golden State, Sunday’s game is the final in a five-game road trip. The Warriors are 3-1 so far on the trip but are coming off a 136-117 blowout loss on Friday in Cleveland. Golden State trailed that game by 41 points at halftime.
“We gotta respond,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “… We gotta execute better. We had 13 turnovers in the first half. We were completely disorganized. That’s where I feel like we need the most work.”
It was a rare slip for the Warriors, who entered Saturday ranked second in the NBA in defensive rating, at 106.5 points allowed per 100 possessions. The Thunder are the only team better, at 97.3 points per 100 possessions.
Both defenses are also near the top of the league in steals per game, with Oklahoma City averaging an NBA-best 12.9 and Golden State third at 9.8. The Thunder also lead the league with 7.3 blocks per game, while the Warriors average 6.0.
Golden State is leading the league with 22.0 points off turnovers per game while the Thunder are tied for fourth at 20.3.
Oklahoma City is coming off a 126-107 win over Houston on Friday in the opener of a six-game homestand. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, led the Thunder with 29 points. The seventh-year guard paces Oklahoma City with 26.3 points and 6.4 assists per game.
The Thunder are 4-0 at home this season, winning by an average of 17.8 points per game.
The biggest difference between the teams is their offensive style.
Oklahoma City leads the league in drives per game with 62.1. The Thunder have topped the league in that category in each of the last four seasons.
But though Oklahoma City has attacked the basket regularly, it has drawn just 19.1 free throw attempts per game, the third-fewest in the league.
Golden State, meanwhile, averages just 37.3 drives per game, more than just two other teams. The Warriors try 41.1 3-pointers per game, slightly more than the Thunder’s 39.2 attempts.
Sunday’s game is the first of three between the teams this season.
The Thunder won three of four last season.