Through the early season, the OKC Thunder have surprised those in the media who predicted they would be the worst team in NBA history.
Although the four-game win streak is over teams around the association aren’t taking this club for granted and know they’ll fight to the buzzer.
Two losses came in quick succession to teams likely to be in the mix late into the postseason but it was a great litmus test for this young roster and to help Sam Presti pinpoint specific areas where he’ll need to add depth.
Although the mandate is tanking this next team is owed one from the Thunder and based on how competitive they’re proven to be it’s not likely they forgot about that loss way back on October 22nd.
OKC Thunder get a shot at revenge versus Rockets
This is the ultimate catch 22 game for the Thunder who are a competitive group that demonstrated this past week just how much they like winning. The problem, of course, is that elephant in the room — the lottery and draft picks.
Houston already got the better pick a season ago, and Sam Presti doesn’t want that to happen again this summer so it’s a matter of balancing the desire to win with the future.
Since the teams last played the Rockets haven’t won again and dealt with off-court drama. Following the one-point loss to the Nuggets in Denver, Christian Wood’s comments in his post-game interview suggested his lack of touches (or being more involved in the offense) would’ve made a difference.
He followed up those comments in the next game not attempting a field goal in the first half and grabbing just one rebound which got people thinking perhaps he was punctuating his point (or pouting).
Yet, there is reason to believe this isn’t a temporary one-game thing as we highlight diving deeper into the preview.