Rick Pitino, a legendary coach in college basketball, applauded the Oklahoma City Thunder's defense after their recent NBA Finals victory. Notably, he has embraced their strategies, showcasing it to his own teams for the first time in his lengthy career. The Thunder's impressive performance in the playoffs, particularly against the Minnesota Timberwolves, solidified their reputation for formidable defense, which subsequently influenced Pitino's coaching approach at St. John's. The Red Storm thrived defensively in the following season, mirroring the Thunder's emphasis on defense to achieve a national championship.
It's interesting, in my 40+ years I've never shown clips to my teams of NBA defense... Until this season. We watched the Thunder at least 3x a week.
The Thunder held teams to 107.3 points per game in the regular season, the third-best in the league... their aggressive, switchable defense forced the most turnovers.
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