He has participated in the construction of the Spurs championship lineup, General Manager has created a modern defensive behemoth after more than 20 years.

(The original article was published on May 20, the author is Kirk Goldsberry on TheRinger website, and the content of the article does not represent the translator's views)

The epic second round series between the Nuggets and the Thunder was packaged as a showdown between the two major MVP candidates. But in fact, the most critical battle is a head-on confrontation between gorgeous offense and dark defense.

Jokic is the best offensive player in the world today, but even with his ability, he failed to steal the victory of the robbery from the Thunder. After the start of the game, the Thunder showed their defensive muscles at the end of the first half, completed consecutive steals and turned the Nuggets' mistakes into scoring. Within 48 minutes of the game, the Thunder made 22 mistakes in the Nuggets, suppressing the Nuggets' shooting percentage at 39%, and finally won 125-93 to secure a spot in the Western Conference Finals.

The cliché of "defense wins the championship" has become a joke in Dallas this season, but 400 miles north along Interstate 35 is no joke. In Oklahoma City, it may be becoming a reality. This season, the Thunder's defensive efficiency has led the league significantly. This is the direction of General Manager Presti's offseason trading to Caruso and signing Haltenstein. This is also the fundamental reason why the Thunder won 68 wins and is now only seven games away from the first championship in the team history.

This is not new to Presti. The senior Thunder general manager started his career in Spurs management and has been involved in the formation of three champions in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Those defensive monsters, considered "dolent", first ended the Lakers dynasty in the early 2000s and then eliminated the Suns with the "seven-second fast attack" three times in four years. Now nearly twenty years after he left the Spurs, Presti has created a defensive monster that fits contemporary basketball. The suffocating defensive legion consisting of entanglers, rebounders and basket guards, specifically stifled the top offense and regained the defensive voice in the offensive era after the three-point revolution.

Dorkness in the penalty area

Eighth quarter of the Western Conference Semi-Finals G6, Braun set up regular cover for Jokic at the top of the arc. Jokic dribbled to the right and broke through, finding that Haltenstein and Alexander were hesitant in the defensive rotation. Braun keenly noticed the opportunity to cut the air and flew straight to the basket. When Alexander was half a position behind, Jokic sent the shells with perfect passing accuracy. This perfectly slam-bumped pass allowed Braun to change his steps. This season, this pair of pairs became the most efficient passer and empty cut ending duo in the league.

But this time the Nuggets were in trouble: as the Thunder's best assistant and perhaps the strongest low defender in the league today, Homgren is lying between the bottom line and the right-hand blocking zone. When Jokic's pass arrived in Braun's hand, Homgren took off like a spring and slapped the sure-lose layup at the highest point. The Nuggets, who rely on such scores throughout the season, encountered the Thunder who specialized in blocking such offenses. Braun, who ranked 9th in the league in layups this season, has experienced what it is like.

Homgren was born for defense. His height of 2.16 and his wingspan of 2.29 are ridiculous. Although his thin body size makes him limited when defending a big man one-on-one, the young man who just turned 23 years old shows an incredible sense of defense. Data proves that among the 148 players who defended at least 200 layups or dunks this season, Homgren suppressed his opponent's shooting percentage to 45.2%, surpassing Wenban Yama (47.1%) and Gobert (48.3%). When he was the latest defender, his opponent's finishing efficiency at the basket plummeted by nearly 16 percentage points from the league average (shot percentage 61%).

The Nuggets led by Jokic have created the most peculiar offensive map in the league this season: they are at the bottom of the three-point shooting but rank among the top five in offensive efficiency. The secret is that they also win the inside scoring king and fast attack scoring king at the same time. Whether it is a conversion offense or a half-court, the ending at the basket is like the oxygen breathed by the Nuggets.

In contrast, the Thunder have the best inside defense and best conversion defense in the league. It is precisely because they win these two key battlefields that they finally win the war with Jokic and the Nuggets.

The Nuggets rely on for the entire seven-game series to maintain offensive efficiency - the end of the basket is completely ineffective. The Thunder's young defenders and wings locked in fast break opportunities and breakthrough routes, while the Giants' frontcourt formed by Homgren and Haltenstein built a no-fly zone. Comparing the Nuggets' basket scoring data when they played against the Thunder in the regular season and the Western Conference semi-finals, the fault-style gap is shocking:

(The picture shows the Nuggets' average hits, shots, hits and scores in the second round of the playoffs)

The Nuggets' regular season scoring tops the league's ranking, but are at the bottom of the eight teams in the semi-finals. The root of this cliff-like decline is that they have encountered the most dominant defensive system in the league today. The signature of top defense is a signature weapon that can curb opponents, but the Thunder did much more to the Nuggets: They directly made the killer weapon of a top offensive team into a weak spot.

This marks the Thunder's complete transformation since last season. In the second round of the playoffs last year, the key reason why the Thunder lost to the Mavericks was their physical weakness. Opponents win by rebounding, inside scoring and second-offensive victory are exactly what Presti must make up for in the offseason.

Last July, Presti signed Haltenstein with a three-year contract to complete the reinforcement. The effect was immediate. When the center was in the inside, the Thunder could still dominate the penalty area against the league's strongest penalty area scoring team. Haltenstein not only enhanced the frontcourt size and confrontation, but also liberated Homgren's defensive talent. The latter was able to focus on playing the league's most terrifying defense deterrent point, becoming a cloud of shadows over opponents' shooting percentages.. There are many great defensive systems in history that are known for blocking the penalty area, but the extraordinary thing about the Thunder's defense lies in its comprehensiveness. Not only did they reach the pinnacle in protecting the basket, but their outside defense is also the best in the league.

In the seven games in the second round, the Thunder completed a total of 74 steals, which is the highest record in a single series of playoffs in the past 30 years. The final battle of the tiebreak was even created with 16 steals in a single game. The record of life and death battle since 1977 was created by this group of monster thieves on the outside. It was the collective outbreak of this group of outside monsters that eventually buried the Nuggets.

There has never been such a terrifying steal group in modern basketball, and converting defense into fast attack is the core code for the Thunder's efficient offense. Each steal not only ends the opponent's offensive round, but also directly causes one's own counterattack. This snowball effect was fully demonstrated in the second quarter of the tiebreaker: when Jamal Murray chased the score difference to 41-42, the Thunder set off a steal frenzy in the last 3 minutes and 11 seconds, and three fatal interceptions directly hit an 18-5 attack wave before the end of the half.

This is exactly the Thunder's routine operation. They averaged 10.3 steals per game this season to lead the league. This team is good at converting live ball mistakes into fast attack fuel. During this year's playoffs, it averaged 24.7 points in the game, surpassing Curry (23.1 points) and Murray (21.8 points) to playoff averages, and is expected to be the highest record in a single playoff since statistics were made in 1997.

The Thunder's defensive destructive power comes from the amazing lineup depth. Even before introducing Haltenstein and Caruso, they were one of the most heavily substitutes on the league. Now Presti holds a luxury defensive resource. Almost everyone in the team is a master of steals and has no shortcomings on the outside. During the regular season, five players, Wallace (1.8 times), Alexander (1.7 times), Caruso (1.6 times), Jaylen Williams (1.3 times) and Dortmund (1.1 times) averaged more than 1 steal per game. When Dortmund, who averaged 1.1 steals per game, was only fifth in the team, you would know how terrifying the defensive reserves of this team were.

Just as the Thunder and the Nuggets series is packaged as a showdown between two major MVP candidates, the Thunder and the Timberwolves battle is also destined to be reduced to a contest between Alexander and Edwards, but this is just the appearance of the story. The real suspense is: Can Edwards and his pack of wolves break the suffocational oppression exerted by the Thunder Steel Defense?

defense will not become the focus of viral network transmission, will not occupy the headlines, and will not even drive the sales of popcorn in the arena. But what can defense bring? Ask Mavericks General Manager Nick Harrison.

Original text: KirkGoldsberry

Compiled by: Li Taibai