Thunder in the News: And so begins the All-Star Break
By Tony Heim
The OKC Thunder have finally hit the much-needed All-Star Break. As you’re soon to find out, not everybody will fully utilize the week’s respite.
Happy All-Star Break OKC Thunder Nation! If I’m being honest with you, this week is much-needed for all of us. Simply watching these games night-after-night gets exhausting. Now imagine how the players and coaches feel.
Luckily Oklahoma City enters the break on a somewhat positive note. Last night the Thunder pulled a typical Thunder move by blowing a 20-point halftime lead, only to win because of Carmelo Anthony’s heroics. We’ll get to this in a bit, but first:
Oh Melo..why would you say this?
This quote gives me mixed emotions – we’ll start with the positives first.
I love hearing that this team has another gear they plan on unleashing. Considering their inconsistency all season, it’s refreshing to know they see this final stretch as important as the rest of us. Now for the negatives.
Why? Why would Melo admit they haven’t necessarily been fully-committed in the first half of the season? Oklahoma City could have 5-8 extra wins if they simply played hard against Dallas, Orlando, Brooklyn, etc. They wouldn’t have to deal with the pressures of making the Playoffs. They would likely have homecourt advantage in the first round. We all knew this was the case, but seeing Melo express it so casually is annoying.
At least we have something to look forward too!
Melo on heading into the All-Star break: “Once we come back, it’s showtime now. It’s time to gear up.”
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 14, 2018
Oh Billy..how are you wired this way?
This is why you never saw me explicitly call for Billy Donovan’s job. In terms of work ethic, Billy D is the coach version of Russell Westbrook. His naturally calm nature hides the fact that he’s constantly working on improving this team. Even during a week-long All-Star Break. It will be interesting to see what changes he implements, specifically what the plan for the starting/backup shooting guard is.
We asked Billy Donovan about if the break is good for him to get rejuvenated and if he ever gets burnt out and he said he's spending the break watching film because Billy seriously never stops pic.twitter.com/i8Mgc61giJ
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) February 15, 2018
The final report card from the “first half” of the season
Last but not least, we take a gander at Ted Dower’s recap and player grades from last night. Ted does a great job of encompassing all 48 minutes into his analysis, something we all should practice when looking at this team from a season-perspective.
"After the OKC Thunder squandered a lead that stretched to 22 points, it felt like the Grizzlies were destined to give their fans a comeback victory. Carmelo Anthony felt differently."
That’s it for today’s issue of Thunder in the News! The All-Star Break won’t stop us from posting daily – it better not stop you from coming to Thunderous Intentions either.