OKC Thunder surge to top of Western Conference after 0-4 start to the year

The streaky OKC Thunder have gone from worst to first in an ever-shifting Western Conference and looking to stay hot.

The first two months of the season for the OKC Thunder have been nothing short of a roller coaster, as they jumped to first in the Western Conference after an 0-4 start. Since then however, things have heated up.

Oklahoma City entered the season as somewhat of a wild card team, with opinions of fans and analysts ranging from potentially winning the conference to being out all together. Depending on who you asked, OKC added enough depth to go the distance or were in for another treacherous learning curve with a new roster and two starters out to begin the season.

In all fairness, the skeptics did have a some viable points. Not only were the Thunder searching for a starting shooting guard but they also made more tweaks to the roster which proved problematic last year. What critics were discounting though, was the capability of Paul George and the Thunder defense to keep them in games.

Riding PG’s hot hand and stellar defense

So just how hot as George been? In short – very. But in further examination, George has upped his scoring to 28.5 points per game so far this month from 22.7 in November. His offensive efficiency rating has also climbed to 116.6 after sitting at 112.4 in October.

The team as a whole recently moved up to No. 1 in defensive efficiency rating, eclipsing the Boston Celtics with a rating of 101.6 led by a league-best 10.4 steals per game. OKC has benefited to the tune of 21.6 points off turnovers and pound opposing teams for 15.9 second chance points per game thanks to a 48.9 rebound average.

The defensive effort has been led by George, Steven Adams and Jerami Grant, but depth plays a big factor as well. Nerlens Noel has proven to be invaluable coming off the bench and the collective effort from guys like Terrance Ferguson and Hamidou Diallo at shooting guard has been a pleasant surprise. The defense will be even more formidable when Andre Roberson comes back.

So when critics want to poke holes in the Thunder offense, let them. They’re average at best as a team on that end of the floor and turn the ball over more than we’d like. Still, OKC is elite in just about every other aspect of the game. Just be sure to remind the haters that defense translates to easy offense, which makes up for a lot of mistakes.

Granted, those offensive shortcomings are part of the reason why the Thunder are so streaky. Some nights they play like contenders then turn around and drop one to a bottom feeder like the Chicago Bulls on Friday. Regardless, strong defense should keep them in almost every game and if the game comes down to the wire, it’s hard to bet against George these days.

Offensive Issue

More from Thunder News

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

The biggest issue facing the OKC isn’t simply the offense, it’s the consistency thereof. Oklahoma City does itself no favors being the worst 3-point shooting team in the league. When the shots aren’t falling, the Thunder often cost itself winnable games. However, due to the sheer star power of Westbrook and George, OKC can also escape with wins even if its not the prettiest to watch.

It’s for that reason, the Thunder is team that’s hard team to put your finger on. Dominant wins against playoff teams can always be followed up with losses to lottery teams, all depending on the offense that particular day.

With that being said, however, the Thunder have shown signs of more mental toughness this year, which is the key to breaking dry spells. No better example of this came last week when George scored 25 of his 47 points in the fourth to overcome the Brooklyn Nets.

From here, it’s just a matter of maintaining the current pace as much as possible. There will always be nights shots don’t fall, but just like absurdly good shooting nights, they don’t happen all the time.

It’s all about finding a way to win on the average day and then deal with the ups and downs as they come along, which is what the Thunder have managed to do early on.