Isaiah Joe’s Fourth Quarter Can Build Confidence for Finals Run

At this point in the season, Oklahoma City’s elite depth is no secret to anyone. This team coasted through the regular season, sustaining serious injuries and misfortunes, not skipping a beat because of its depth. Not much has changed in the playoffs, either, as Oklahoma City has continued to outlast the competition with an impressive, complete rotation.

Nearly every night, the rotation looks a little bit different. It’s certainly tighter than the regular season rotation, but Mark Daigneault hasn’t been afraid to go deep in his bench at all. It feels like every other night, someone new is making an impact on the court.

One key regular season contributor who has been relatively quiet in the postseason is the team’s sharpshooter Isaiah Joe. He has, at times, struggled defensively, and he’s not generating enough open looks during his time on the floor. Even when opponents try and play zone, the open threes still don’t seem to find Joe. He played a career-high 22 minutes per game in the regular season, but those minutes have dropped to just under 11 per game in the postseason.

Joe hasn’t necessarily endured a terrible shooting slump, it just feels like his missed shots have been pretty noticeable. He hasn’t made any timely triples, and his playing time has decreased because of it. Daigneault clearly still believes in him, though, and has inserted him into the game during shooting slumps on multiple occasions. Joe had perhaps his best stretch of the playoffs in five minutes at the end of Game 5, and fans can be hopeful that’s exactly what he needed to get going.

In 5:32 of action, Joe poured in 11 points on 4-of-4 from the floor and 3-of-3 from behind the 3-points line. He’s shooting 38.3% from long range in the playoffs, and is still averaging 5.2 points per game.

Against the Pacers, a team that likes to run and get in track meets, Joe might have an opportunity at open looks. Finding spots in the corner in transition, and putting some of their players into certain actions, could give Joe’s playoff game new life. It hasn’t been a perfect postseason run by any means, but he still has plenty of time to make an impact.