{"id":126421,"date":"2025-03-01T13:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T18:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=126421"},"modified":"2025-03-01T13:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T18:29:08","slug":"chet-holmgrens-impact-thunder-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/01\/chet-holmgrens-impact-thunder-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Chet Holmgren&#8217;s Impact On The Thunder For The Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One bright spot for the Oklahoma City Thunder following the All-Star break has been <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holmgch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chet Holmgren&#8217;s<\/a> two-way play. When he returned on February 7 after being sidelined with a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/11\/chet-holmgren-injured-in-loss-to-warriors\/\" target=\"_self\">hip injury since\u00a0November 10th<\/a>, he didn&#8217;t seem quite himself. The big man only played in three games before the All-Star break, and he averaged 9.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 3.7 blocks per game.<\/p>\n<p>However, Holmgren returned to how he was playing in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/09\/chet-holmgren-dpoy-case\/\" target=\"_self\">first 10 games<\/a> of the season. In three games between February 23-26, he averaged 20.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.7 steals, and 3.0 blocks per game. However, he got hurt in the first half in Friday night&#8217;s game and didn&#8217;t return. It was a left ankle sprain, and it is unclear if he will miss time. Ultimately, the Thunder will most likely be very cautious with this, as they need Holmgren&#8217;s impact in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<h2>Chet Holmgren&#8217;s Impact On The Thunder For The Playoffs<\/h2>\n<h3>Homlgren&#8217;s Ability To Take Pressure Off \u00a0Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/h3>\n<p>Every time <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> crosses half-court, he&#8217;s double-teamed. The Thunder are used to this, as they have seen it many times. However, while Gilgeous-Alexander can break free and still score at will, he has been more passive lately. He is trying to prepare his team for the playoffs by making them more comfortable in those situations.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Daigneault was asked about Shai\u2019s decision making late Monday:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPart of his leadership is his ability to recognize what the team needs to grow and what his teammates need to grow. Could he have been more aggressive? Probably. Would that have been the best thing to win the\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OcIEQSIjkA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/OcIEQSIjkA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Joel Lorenzi (@jxlorenzi) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jxlorenzi\/status\/1894892045757526241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There is one thing Oklahoma City can do to stop those double teams from coming to Gilgeous-Alexander. That is for players like Holmgren and others to make plays when Gilgeous-Alexander gives up the ball. If Homgren and the Thunder roll, players are hitting their shots from the outside, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija06.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Williams<\/a> is making plays and scoring, this will take the pressure off Gilgeous-Alexander, especially in the playoffs, and Holmgren is a major key. Add that to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harteis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a> and Holmgren being able to make plays for others when they get the ball in the middle of the court; teams will not double-team Gilgeous-Alexander as much.<\/p>\n<h3>Holmgren&#8217;s Connection with J-Dub<\/h3>\n<p>Last year in the playoffs, Gilgeous-Alexander didn&#8217;t get any help from his role players as they couldn&#8217;t consistently hit shots from the outside. In addition, his two co-stars struggled to take pressure off of him, which was somewhat understandable being their first time in the playoffs. That is why Gilgeous-Alexander had to play the hero and carry his team in the Dallas Mavericks series, and was one bad foul away from sending that series to game seven.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are no excuses this year, as Holmgren and Williams must help Gilgeous-Alexander and take some pressure off him. This is why the guard has taken a more conservative effort post All-Star break, to help his guys be more prepared. If the Thunder want to avoid another early playoff exit as the number one seed, both Homgren and Williams need to be consistent scoring options. At least one of them in every game has to be a consistent 20+ point per game scorer, which was something they didn&#8217;t do in the playoffs last year. When Gilgeous-Alexander goes to the bench or gets double-teamed, the connection between Homgren and Williams must be successful. The Thunder could be in for another disappointing playoff exit if the connection isn&#8217;t there.<\/p>\n<h3>Holmgren&#8217;s Defensive Impact<\/h3>\n<p>Finally, Holmgren&#8217;s defensive impact will be crucial for them in the playoffs. Last year in the Mavericks series, his <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask\/chet-holmgren-playoff-plus-minus\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">plus-minus stat<\/a> was positive in every game but two. This means Oklahoma City dominated every time Holmgren was on the court and struggled with him when he was off. This is another reason why they <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/01\/2024-nba-free-agency-thunder-add-former-knicks-center\/\" target=\"_self\">brought in\u00a0Hartenstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder have the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">number-one defense in the NBA<\/a> this year. However, they are even scarier on defense with Holmgren on the court. When he&#8217;s on the court, they have a <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/team\/1610612760\/onoffcourt-summary?dir=A&amp;sort=ON_DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">101.6<\/a> defensive rating. When he&#8217;s off, they have a defensive rating of 105.5. This means they are giving up almost four fewer points per 100 possessions when he is on the court. You might think four points isn&#8217;t a lot. But in the playoffs, that could be the deciding factor of whether or not you win or lose a game.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word on Chet Holmgren&#8217;s Impact On the Playoffs<\/h3>\n<p>The good news is that Holmgren&#8217;s injury is just an ankle sprain and isn&#8217;t serious. If he misses time, it won&#8217;t be for long, but expect the Thunder to be cautious. They have the number one seed all but locked up at this point. When the postseason starts, they just want to be fully healthy. Ultimately, with how good Gilgeous-Alexander has been this year, for the Thunder to reach their goal of winning a championship, they will need a healthy Holmgren and the impact he brings on both ends of the court to do so.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One bright spot for the Oklahoma City Thunder following the All-Star break has been Chet Holmgren&#8217;s two-way play. When he returned on February 7 after being sidelined with a hip injury since\u00a0November 10th, he didn&#8217;t seem quite himself. The big man only played in three games before the All-Star break, and he averaged 9.0 points, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5171,"featured_media":126457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,22],"tags":[4292,993,4609,1489],"class_list":["post-126421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-thunder","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-jalen-williams","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126421"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126459,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126421\/revisions\/126459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}