Five takeaways from the Thunder’s blowout loss in Houston
By Tony Heim
The OKC Thunder went into Houston looking for a marquee victory heading into the playoffs. Instead they laid a dud.
Today was the day it finally hit me. I didn’t want to believe it, and as a self-proclaimed realist-leaning-on-the-side-of-pessimist I’m embarrassed it took me this long to realize the obvious.
This team is the definition of mediocre. I’m not saying this as a slight. In fact, it’s a compliment in its own weird way.
History says the Thunder shouldn’t be fighting for the five spot (word to Mike Breen). When teams lose superstars in the ilk of Kevin Durant for nothing, they tend to bottom out. But because Russell Westbrook is a cyborg, us Thunder fans have been led to believe this team still can compete at the highest level. That is true. To an extent.
The Thunder can beat up on the non-playoff teams. And they can consistently compete against playoff teams. But once they play against a contender their flaws become much more apparent. When Westbrook isn’t the hands-down best player on the court Oklahoma City has lost their one advantage in the league.
Against the top MVP candidates (Harden, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James) Oklahoma City is 3-5. Include the Warriors and that record goes to 3-9. Sure the Thunder can grab a win against these teams every now and then, but come playoff time OKC has little chance of making a big-time upset.
I hate starting this post off so negative because there is still a lot of things to be excited about with this team. Are we going to lay them out here? No. Losses like these are the best teachers for young players so we’re going to do our civic duty and help them out as much as possible.
Let’s get started.