Thunderous Thoughts – Finally showing signs of positivity

Welcome to Thunderous Thoughts, your weekly look at the OKC Thunder. This week, POSITIVITY!

It’s December 7th, 23 games into the season, and the Oklahoma City Thunder may have finally turned things around. The Thunder remain one game under .500, but they have won three straight – all crunch time wins – and have the Nets in Mexico City on Thursday. This is a team that got blown out by the Mavericks and Magic last week, so it would be foolish of me to think they’ll be 12-12 come Friday morning.

That said, there are encouraging signs.

Following the 2-2 start, I said, “I fully expect this team to take until December to realize 75 percent of their potential.”

I didn’t expect November to be as draining as it was, and it’s never good to leave that many wins on the table. But they are 3-0 in December and there have been a lot of positives in these last three games

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The biggest positive is that they’ve won. After losing all but one game entering crunch time, they’ve won three straight. Law of averages (and talent) said they would eventually win these games.

The easiest way to win a game in crunch time is to lead entering crunch time. I’m not good at math, but I know that having more points than the other team is the best way to win games. If you’re leading with four minutes to go, the other team has to make at least one more shot than you if they want to win. They led by scores of three, five, and one with four minutes remaining in the last three games.

Here’s a stat for you: In every Thunder crunch time loss, they’ve trailed with four minutes remaining. In every win, they’ve led. Basically, the game should end with four minutes remaining in the fourth. Save everyone 15 minutes by calling the game four minutes early.

Aside from that obvious observation, the best thing they have done in these last three games is remembering that Steven Adams is the best player on the team. Far too many times this year, Adams has had monster first halves, only to be forgotten about in the second half. It’s been frustrating to watch because Adams has become a top offensive talent. He’s perfected that little bunny in the paint, finishes strong and has a high basketball IQ. When the offense is stalled, going to Adams is an easy way to kick it back into gear.

Something like that does take time though. Westbrook and Adams have a built-in chemistry from years of playing together, but Adams does not know the tendencies of Anthony and George, and vice versa. That’s why I’m all for Billy Donovan trotting out the 2016-17 lineup of Westbrook-Abrines-Roberson-Grant-Adams when the team needs a spark.

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Those five have chemistry together, they don’t overthink and they all know their roles.

We’re starting to see more chemistry develop between George and Adams, which is another encouraging sign. George will need to be that secondary playmaker that Kevin Durant was during his last season in Oklahoma City. Durant averaged five assists during Donovan’s first year. Aside from his MVP season, that was the highest mark of his career. George is good enough, smart enough and has talented enough players around him to where he should be at a minimum of 4.5 assists by the end of the season.

Anthony taking a step back is necessary for this team to succeed. In the last three games, he’s become more of a catch-and-shoot player and less of a catch-jab-jab-jab-shoot player. The hope is that he and Westbrook start to develop a pick-and-pop game, but that might be wishful thinking. He won’t continue to shoot less than 20 percent from three, especially with the looks he’s been getting.

The signs of coming together are evident in the last three games. The hope is that they continue to progress over the next five months, finally peaking in late April.