I thought it interesting that Mazzula started the game with Grant guarding SGA and when it obviously wasn't working switched to put Brown on SGA for pretty much the rest of the night.
Why wasn't Smart, the best guard defender in the league on SGA, the OKC best offensive player who plays guard? That wasn't making any sense to me.
Two thoughts:
One is that Jaylen is a good on-ball defender and a spotty off-ball defender. Putting him on the ball maximizes his impact at that end.
The second, and this may be an unpopular opinion: I think Smart is quietly starting to lose a step defensively. He’s still as strong and intelligent as he ever was, but guards can blow by him now and that used to be rare.
Ultimately I don’t think it’s a major issue yet. Missing Rob means that our perimeter defenders are exposed more than they usually would be, so it sticks out more now than it will when we’re healthy. And he’s still a hell of a defender otherwise. Just something I’ve noticed when I’ve been able to watch the team this year.