OKC Thunder at the break: The good, the bad, and the ugly
The “Man We’re Gonna Regret Dropping Those” Games
Every team in the NBA loses and underperforms. But too many times this season, the Thunder have dropped games to terrible teams simply due to a lack of effort.
Some notable examples that stick out. The Thunder lost to the now 14-44 Chicago Bulls. OKC dropped back-to-back home games against Washington and Minnesota.
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A week later, they lost on the road to the 19-39 Hawks and at home to the LeBron-less Lakers in back-to-back games. Most recently, OKC fell to the Pelicans with Anthony Davis playing just the first half.
Again, teams drop games all time, and it’s hard to play fully engaged ball 82 games a year. But if the Thunder realistically wants to be the two seed, they can’t afford to lose many more (if any) easy games.
The “good” news in this sense is the Thunder have the toughest remaining schedule in the league. This means they will have to play locked in if they want to beat some of the better teams they play after the break. The only two real gimmes are against the now-rebuilding Grizzlies.
Next. The talent and fit of Markieff Morris. dark
This upcoming stretch will play a massive role in how the Thunder will look and feel heading into the playoffs. You just hope that a couple of these awful loses isn’t the difference between the two seed and starting a first round series on the road.