OKC Thunder comeback kids do it again in win versus Grizzlies – 3 takeaways

OKC Thunder erases a 24 point deficit versus the Grizzlies to capture another victory. Takeaways offer up three things we learned in the match.

Few preseason predictions earmarked the OKC Thunder to be in the playoff mix. Yet, 27 games, or a third of the way into an 82 game campaign the team resides on the West’s seventh ladder rung. The win on Wednesday versus the Grizzlies was eerily similar to the game prior. Both required the team to come back from over 20 point deficits.

How the team got to this point in the matches and how they responded had some similarities and some key differences. With that let’s look at the key takeaways.

Drop the bad habits:

The 2019-20 iteration of the OKC Thunder has definitive common themes running through this campaign. The first is they simply won’t roll over and concede regardless of what the score is.

The majority of the season, OKC was in games in those crucial final five minutes that count. The section of the game called ‘clutch time’ typically happening when games are within five points.

That’s been the case in all but four games the team has lost this season. If you want to count games lost by more than five points then six games, although in both cases (of the two other games) they were within striking distance in the clutch. As fans you can’t ask for much more than that.

This concerning new trend of needing to dig out of huge deficits is tied to another common theme this season which is how the club starts the game and comes out after the halftime break. In back to back games, the Thunder has allowed teams to build 26 and 24 point leads on them tied specifically to those two sections of the game.

Sure winning and making history is great (OKC is only the second team in the last 20 years to come back from 20 plus point deficits in back to back games) but it’s not ideal to be in that situation in the first place.

For as great as the wins are it’s more important the team doesn’t keep putting themselves in a hole where they need to claw back. The fact the team can do so is great ammunition to have in their back pocket for when it’s absolutely essential to use. However, it’s time the Thunder nip this very bad habit in the bud and bring effort for the full 48.

At the very least how the squad starts and finishes quarters has to take priority moving forward with particular emphasis placed on the first and third quarters. Since the team has proven they’ll be in the mix at game end they would be better served to save this ability for those clutch time moments.