It’s official the OKC Thunder will play every squad right to the buzzer and lost again but odds are eventually these games will shift in their direction. Three takeaways offer insight into the match.
A rough week for the OKC Thunder who lost three games to LA teams by a cumulative 10 points!
That hurts and while the running mantra is ‘we’ll breakthrough’ it has to be debilitating to constantly lose games by five points or less especially when the team is right there at the end every time.
Moreover, one of two iffy calls (or non-calls in the case of LeBron James not getting called for his patented push-off) can make the difference.
Still, the reality is both these LA teams (Clippers and Lakers) could very well be the last two standing in the West and knowing your club pushed both to their breaking point should offer a sense of pride for the OKC Thunder.
Having just played the Lakers in LA on Tuesday the knowledge about the opposition was high as players are like sponges who quickly absorb the tendencies of their opponents. With only three days between their matches, there were several plays that demonstrated that recall was top of mind.
Although the Lakers held a sizeable lead in the third quarter and looked like they were about to sail to the victory the gritty Thunder battled back to make it a contest and once more push their opponent into clutch time with the game in the balance.
With that let’s look at three key takeaways from the loss.