OKC Thunder: Winning culture ever-present during tanking season

As the OKC Thunder prepared to play the second game of a back-to-back on Tuesday it wasn’t the typical late-season match. Rather the club arrived in Boston on the heels of their 14th consecutive loss. A mark in futility that hadn’t been experienced by this franchise since the inaugural season of 2008-09.

Russell Westbrook was a rookie and Kevin Durant was playing his second season as a pro. Some refer to it as the Thunder U years in Oklahoma City because of the youthful roster.  It was a magical period for the franchise as the team developed and blossomed into what would quickly become a title-contending squad.

The 14-game losing streak experienced that first season began the fourth game of the schedule through the 17th game.  There were other losing streaks to follow but typically not longer than four games except in the 2014-15 season when OKC lost six games in a row.  Again, that streak occurred early in the campaign (November 14th through 23rd) when both Westbrook and Durant were out injured.

2014-15 was also the only time other than the first season that the OKC Thunder didn’t appear in the postseason. That’s an incredible success story and punctuates the standard every iteration of the franchise has lived up to.

OKC Thunder winning culture resonates even in tanking season

And that culture was why Intentions had a strong hunch this iteration of the Thunder would do everything possible to win in Boston. One of our keys was whether Luguentz Dort would play as that would signal the team didn’t want to be remembered as the worst in franchise history. It was one thing to tie the 2008-09 team but if they’d lost to Boston this squad would own that record outright.

Mark Daigneault touched on how tough the losing streak has been for the club but was quick to cite how much character the team has. The coach said in his postgame speech that Sam Presti recently asked him who on the club he was gaining respect for from a character perspective. Daigneault noted the list was long.

Undoubtedly, Lu Dort was on that list, and his comments after the match as noted on ESPN reflected his leadership:

"“I saw it today and I told Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander), ‘Shai, we’re winning today,'” Dort said. “That was my mindset just before the game — to do everything to win. The fact that we did it as a team was great.”"

Dort and Darius Bazley were the key cogs in the victory as they each offered highlights in the match. Although, it’s fair to say every single player who got minutes played with pride and contributed to OKC ending the losing streak.

Lu had a rough shooting night (5 of 14) but he was aggressive getting to the line with 13 free throws connecting on 11 which was almost half of his 24 points.

Bazley registered a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds punctuated by one awesome dunk late in the contest. Ty Jerome and Isaiah Roby each offered 15 points off the bench and rookie Aleksej Pokusevski had one of his better shooting nights (5 of 12 and 2 of 4 from deep).

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Turnovers were an issue for the second game in a row. Versus the 76ers, OKC turned the ball over 30 times leading to 35 points, and in Boston, the Thunder had 27 turnovers resulting in 29 points.

The win didn’t just halt the losing streak it also was the first win by the team in the month of April. It goes without saying everyone with a vested interest in this team understands why losing is a necessary evil. The goal is to improve the lottery position and increase the opportunity to nab the top draft pick or get as high a pick as possible.

Given that losing mandate, it may be the last time the Thunder win this season. Yet, on this one night in April, the NBA lottery was the last thing on anyone’s mind. Rather, it was a time to channel that gritty competitiveness this franchise is known for.

That one victory reminded us of the culture of the OKC Thunder.  And moving forward, that this squad while in development mode possesses a core whose foundation is built upon that premise.