5 reasons the Oklahoma City Thunder can win the NBA Championship

3. Offensive rebounding

Over the past few seasons, we’ve generally seen teams emphasize cutting off transition opportunities over offensive rebounding. Defensive rebounding rates have subsequently risen and offensive rebounding has become area of the game that teams don’t take advantage of enough. OKC has gone against convention in this sense. The Thunder are the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA.

Steven Adams is the main reason for their success in that facet of the game. In the regular season, he finished third in offensive rebound percentage behind former Stache Bro Enes Kanter and Detroit’s Andre Drummond. Adams secured boards on 16.2 percent of his team’s misses throughout the year. That gives the Thunder an enormous advantage on both sides of the ball. OKC maximizes its second chance opportunities, which really buoys its sometimes bricky offense.  On the other end of the floor, Adams’ expert board crashing allows his teammates to get back on defense and snuff out transition chances. OKC thus gets the best of both worlds, dominating the glass while maintaining a strong transition defense. Offensive rebounding might be the Thunder’s biggest advantage against the Rockets and the Warriors, teams the become deadlier when downsizing.