Wemby stopper? How Isaiah Hartenstein grabbed momentum for the Thunder

Game 2 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs didn’t hit the same highs as their Game 1 thriller, but that’s OK. It’s really freakin’ hard to follow up an instant classic.

But if you wanted superstar performances, you still got ‘em; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (30 points, 9 assists to 1 turnover, 1 steal and 2 blocks) looked more like himself, while Victor Wembanyama (21-17-6-1-4, +1 in the nine-point loss) still warped the floor on both ends.

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Jaw-dropping highlights? Stephon Castle (25-5-8-1, though another nine turnovers) certainly had you covered. I am still reeling from this Tier-1 poster dunk.

Big performances from the role players? Still had it. Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace came up big, especially in light of the eventual absence of Jalen Williams. Devin Vassell brought it on both ends of the floor, quietly logging his highest-scoring game of the postseason — his first 20-point game since March 16.

(Also, a quick salute to Mark Daigneault and Mitch Johnson for going deeper with their benches in light of the short turnaround following that double-OT thriller. Thank you, gentlemen, for bringing Isaiah Joe and Jordan McLaughlin back into our lives.)

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In a game that featured so much, I’d argue it was defined by Isaiah Hartenstein.

It’s certainly true of the #discourse; peruse your app of choice and you’ll see plenty of commentary about the physicality he was able to get away with — as well as hearty counters about some of the physicality the Spurs have been getting away with.

(To that I say: refs should call the obvious stuff — missing a hair-pull in particular, accidental or not, is absolutely nuts — but I am generally OK with some roughhousing off the ball as long as nobody gets injured. I’m fine with Castle jostling with SGA. I’m fine with Caruso jostling with Wemby. The playoffs are supposed to be hard.)

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Beyond that, Hartenstein’s performance (10 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists) was at the center of OKC’s biggest adjustments compared to what they showcased in Game 1.

On a basic level, the biggest shift was Hartenstein simply being on the court. He logged just 12 minutes in Game 1, a calculated decision from OKC to lean into smaller lineups to 1) switch actions involving Wemby and 2) space the floor and threaten the Spurs (read: Wemby) with more shooting.

It seemed like something was up when Hartenstein was subbed out 2:36 into the game, though it was hard to anticipate the minute count winding up that low. The script certainly flipped in Game 2, with Hartenstein logging 27 minutes — and the Thunder outscoring the Spurs by two in those minutes.

What was also notable was Hartenstein’s defensive assignment. The Thunder, much like the Blazers in the first round, opted to stash a wing (Jalen Williams) on Wemby while having their center (Hartenstein, Donovan Clingan for the Blazers) “guard” Castle to begin Game 1. It’s a two-pronged initiative:

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• Putting a wing on Wemby, in theory, allows you to more easily deal with his perimeter-based attacks while also introducing a higher level of switching

• Putting a big on Castle, in theory, allows that big to lurk around the paint while daring Castle to (primarily) beat the coverage with jumpers

The play below ends up being a bucket for the Spurs, but note how far Hartenstein sags off of Castle early in the possession, and how seamlessly they switch the Castle-Wemby pick-and-roll:

In Game 2, Williams and Hartenstein switched places. Not only was there an assignment swap, the opening possession served as a preview for what the Thunder would prioritize. Hartenstein stayed pretty attached to Wemby throughout the entire trip:

There was some coverage mixing, with Hartenstein occasionally working to the level of screens to hedge, or flowing into a couple of late switches, but his primary goal was to drop back with Wemby and take away the rolls that diced up the Thunder in Game 1.

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Without the same massive size advantages to feast on, paired with Hartenstein’s early physicality before screens could even be set, Wemby didn’t have the same lob opportunities or, ultimately, the same success. Per Second Spectrum, Wemby’s effectiveness and volume as a roller suffered a noticeable drop.

• Game 1: 27 rolls (switches on 48.2% of them), 1.28 PPP

• Game 2: 19 rolls (switches on 10.5% of them), 0.58 PPP

With the rolls dipping, Wemby did counter with some pick-and-pops. The volume tripled from Game 1 (3) to Game 2 (9), with the Spurs practically averaging a bucket (2.0 PPP) on those trips.

You don’t want Wemby getting going from deep (3-of-7 from 3 overall in Game 2), but conceptually, the Thunder may be OK with Wemby on the perimeter in this context — he essentially doubled his average shot distance (7.3 feet to 14.9 feet) — to achieve their broader goal of winning the paint battle.

To that end, Hartenstein’s presence (and coverage split) made it more difficult for the Spurs, and especially Wemby, to get busy on the offensive glass. The Spurs rebounded 27.3% of their own misses in Hartenstein’s 27 minutes on the court, but that rose to an eye-popping 52.4% with him on the bench.

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To the other end, you did get your usual Hartenstein stuff. He set his fair share of screens, particularly off the ball; the volume jumped from two to 11, with six of those being set for SGA as the Thunder worked to get him more touches on the move. Hartenstein was the giver on 12 handoffs, compared to only four in Game 1.

The biggest shift, and one that also comes with its own layer of #discourse, came with his usage as a lead blocker. After Game 1, I and many others wondered how often Hartenstein would dip into the Marcin Gortat bag, working to seal Wemby (and others) after rolls in an effort to clear space and prevent Wemby from mucking things up at the rim.

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I’m not sure anybody anticipated the volume ramping up the way he did, or the level of physicality he displayed on some of them to be allowed.

As I said earlier, I personally don’t mind the off-ball jostling. Conceptually, Hartenstein looking to seal Wemby was a smart adjustment and one that made life easier for SGA on his downhill attacks.

With the Thunder working to get SGA off the ball (received 10 off-ball screens in Game 2, 5 in Game 1) and SGA speeding up his internal clock as an attacker, the Hartenstein seals turned so many of SGA’s attacks into true 1v1 battles. As good as Castle is as a defender — hopefully he’s named to an All-Defensive team later today — SGA has been winning 1v1s like this all year long.

Like, this is just an old-fashioned post seal at the free throw line that gives SGA more room to flow into a pull-up against the smaller McLaughlin:

Hartenstein also looked to find Wemby in transition to make sure the lanes were more clear:

Obviously the literal displacement from Hartenstein had an impact, but it also felt like there was a residual effect of Wemby looking to find Hartenstein during trips; with OKC playing with more tempo, those split seconds of “where is he?” could throw off his rotation timing juuust enough to open attacking windows that frankly didn’t exist in Game 1.

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Now, a fair question to ask heading into Game 3 is just how tight the whistle will be for Hartenstein off the ball. While the concept of sealing Wemby to clear space is a smart one, you do have to do it legally.

Nobody should be upset if some of the pulling we saw in Game 2 ends up being whistled in Game 3; heck, he was fighting foul trouble in this game. For this gambit to continue, Hartenstein and the Thunder at large will have to figure out what the line of physicality is pretty quickly and work within that.