Thunder are bucking the trend with their old-school offense, and it's beautiful

Most modern NBA teams employ the "swing-swing" method to break down defenses and hit the open man for a three. The Celtics embody this playing style, attempting a record 51.4 threes a game this season. While they do rely on the odd Derrick White floater and the Kristaps Porzingis post-up, their playbook is built on hunting the open three.

The Thunder, too, hunt for open threes, but in a completely different way. They do it with the drive. 

Banking on the elite dribble penetration of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, the Thunder average 59.1 drives per game — 20.3 more times than Boston and 22.8 more than the league-worst Lakers. As a result, OKC generates at least 26.1 field-goal attempts with drives, generating a league-best 33.4 points per game.  

The strategy paid dividends against the Mavericks in the NBA Cup quarterfinal on Tuesday. SGA did a remarkable job of getting to the teeth of Dallas' defense to either find open shooters or convert at the rim. 

After he finished with a game-high 39 points and five assists in the win, TNT's Kenny Smith explained why SGA and Co. were going against the grain of the typical modern NBA offense.

"Their guards play big, which means they post up," Smith said of the Thunder. "This is untraditional basketball, which was traditional basketball [in yesteryears]. It's untraditional right now to post up and play in the paint. Yes, they did take a lot of threes, but most of them came from dribble penetration. They will get into the lane, which is basically like throwing the ball to a Shaq or Charles Barkley back in the day, and when the double occurs, you pass out. It's the same thought process — Michael Jordan played out of the post in the triangle offense so you can shoot threes. It's the same thing. They are untraditional and tough to guard."