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The Oklahoma City Thunder have a massive matchup against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. Despite that, head coach Billy Donovan says there's no extra hype for the game.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan when asked about any extra hype leading into tonight vs. Nuggets: “I’m not really wrapped up in Denver, we’ve played them twice. It’s more about who we’ve gotta become because after tonight there’s another one coming.”
— Mike Singer (@msinger) February 26, 2019
The Thunder are three games back from the Nuggets for first place in the Northwest Division and second place in the Western Conference. Due to that, this game has a lot of playoff implications.
That being said, the Thunder aren't treating this game any different apparently, and that's the right move.
There's still a lot of season left. At 38-21, the Thunder still have 23 games left to play before the playoffs. It seems a little early to start treating certain games differently.
Donovan is also right in pointing out that this isn't the end-all of the season. After this game, Oklahoma City's next opponent are the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, then the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
That's two more playoff teams back-to-back. Don't use up all your energy tonight because you want to try to create a narrative that this game is more important than anything.
That being said, this clearly isn't a nothing game for the Thunder. They're currently down in the season series 2-0 to the Nuggets with two games left. Winning this game keeps their hopes for a tie-breaker against the team alive.
However, if the Thunder lose, it's not the end of the world. They'll still be in third place, and only four games back from second with 22 games left to go.
Therefore, this game is important, but head coach Billy Donovan is right in being focused on the rest of the season as a whole picture rather than just one game.
