What makes this Oklahoma City Thunder defense so special? You can start with personnel, followed by game plan discipline, and then the strategy. I want to focus on the tactical part of this strategy called the Peel Switch.
Usually the peel switch refers to a 2 person defensive tactic where the driver/cutter drives by defender A and is picked up by defender B, followed by the defender A ‘peeling’ off to defender A’s player. I call this Shrink Switch.
Example: Doncic gets beat. Dinwiddie picks up Crowder. Doncic picks up Paul.
We are going to talk about the Peel Switch we see on the 1st possession of Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Firstly, lets look at the whole defensive possession by the Thunder. The Pacers flow into Delay action. Notice how Shai and Hartenstein both give a gap so Chet and Dort can go under and through the gap.
Haliburton passes to Turner and goes for a Get. Dort, All Defensive 1st Team Selection this season, makes this pass dirty by fighting over and denying the hand off. Defense is focused on stopping Haliburton so you can see Chet cheat off Turner for a split second.
The Pacers, an Elite offensive team, quickly flow into their next trigger. This time a DHO. Notice how Williams initially points for the switch. The Thunder DO NOT want to switch Dort off Haliburton if they don’t have to. This indecision leads to Nembhart creating a slight advantage by racing the under, forcing the…
Peel switch. Hartenstein comes over to protect the rim and for the first time this possession Dort leaves Haliburton because the Thunder have been getting lit up from the corner 3 the first 4 games of the series. And you can see as Dort sinks to pick up Hartensteins player, Hartenstein X’s out to Dorts cover.
While I couldn’t find game‑by‑game corner‑3 splits broken down specifically for Games 1–4, here’s the broader picture:
Regular season corner-3%: 40.6% (Top‑5 in NBA) sbnation.com
Playoffs overall corner-3%: 46.9% — best among all teams
This gives OKC plenty of time to be in position to contest a 3. Back to neutral.
And again, the pacers with less than 5 seconds left in the shot clock go to their 4TH(!!!) trigger on this possession. Shai is disciplined to not go under on Nesmith and instead chases him over the top. Forcing the analytically poor mid-range jump shot, with a rear view contest.
As the Pacers prepare to tag up, Dort races to the loose ball and gets the first foul of the game.
The Thunder showed game plan discipline by going over the pick in the last action to force a mid range jumper, tactical savvy with the peel switch, and their personnel were able to close out to high % shooters as well fight through screens.
Masterclass.
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