Going into Friday the Oklahoma City Thunder were the talk of the league. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t in a good way.
The Thunder had dropped their last four games and were not looking like a team that was supposed to challenge the Golden State Warriors for Western Conference supremacy. In fact, during their first 12 games, they didn’t even resemble a team that could make the playoffs in the heavy hitting Western Conference. Their 0-6 record vs. the Western Conference was proof of that.
The Thunder ended their four-game losing streak by beating an undermanned Clippers squad 120-111. Paul George had his best game of the season as he scored 42 points to lead Oklahoma City.
However, that didn’t stop fans and critics alike from wondering what was wrong with the team.
The common phrase heard over and over is that the Thunder need time. With so many new pieces on the squad, it was assumed the Thunder wouldn’t fall into place right away.
Yet, no one had a clue Oklahoma City would look this organized and out of sync.
“I think there has been a lot of things,” Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said. “It’s been on both sides of the ball. Those are things we have to do a better job of playing well more consistently. Doing it for more than 48 minutes. That’s the biggest part.”
While many have said the collection of talent needs time to just figure things out, Donovan isn’t using that as an excuse for some of the team’s defeats.
“I think there has been a lot made of figuring themselves out and working through things,” Donovan said. “I think that is a piece of it. But I don’t think rebounding or transition defense or what we're doing schematically on defense in the half court has anything to do with figuring it out.”
Yet the numbers seem to tell a different story. While Oklahoma City is second in the league giving up only 97.3 points per game. They are also fourth in opponents field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot 43.5 percent.
Despite that, Donovan isn’t overly impressed by what he has seen when Oklahoma City doesn’t have the ball and is less concerned with how the offense looks right now.
“I think sometimes offensively when you have different players coming together and a team coming together, there are different things they go to that relate to adjustments,” Donovan said. “But I’ve always felt with defenses, everybody is the same and equal and you have to be able to do it collectively. It’s like when a shot goes up on the backboard and you’re saying let’s not even rebound because we’re trying to figure it out. It’s still part of the game wherever they’ve been. I get the figuring it out part and guys wanting to elevate each other and help each other play better. But I think there are certain parts that are not figuring it out.”
Donovan also doesn’t believe that a lack of offensive success should have any effect on what the players do in other areas. The points will come, but he wants his squad to focus on every facet of the game.
“These guys are pros. They’re a veteran group. They’ve had games where they haven’t shot the ball well and they’ve had games where they shot the ball great,” Donovan said. “The fact of the matter is, the game has to be played on both ends of the floor. You can’t be really great offensively and then bad defensively and put yourself in a position to win in this league. And you can’t be great defensively and be really bad on offense and expect to win. So it’s really both ways.”
The Thunder are back in action Sunday night when they host the Dallas Mavericks at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
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