After three months of being shelved with a right iliac wing fracture and then, upon his return in early February, a few weeks of getting back into the swing of things, it seemed that Chet Holmgren was finally back to his pre-injury form and ready to help the OKC Thunder chase ultimate glory.
From February 21 through March 25, the big man was gradually taken off of his minutes restriction and, along the way, found himself dropping impressive per-game averages of 15.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks on 51.4 percent shooting from the floor and 36.4 percent shooting from deep.
Along the way, Oklahoma City found themselves going 11-1 in games he was active for.
Then, just recently, this upward momentum seemed to come to a screeching halt.
Holmgren saw himself post just 4 points and 4 turnovers on 22.2 percent shooting from the floor in a rather competitive outing against the Memphis Grizzlies on March 27, and then would directly follow this up with a 5-point, 3-turnover performance in the club's latest matchup against the Bulls.
Now, on the bright side, each of these games ended up turning in the Thunder's favor, as they pulled out a 21-point and 28-point win, respectively, on both of these nights.
However, at this point in the season, seeing such a key rotation player like Chet grow cold is far from ideal.
Chet Holmgren grows cold as OKC Thunder inch closer to postseason
One of the biggest concerns about this Thunder team is that they lack a reliable scoring punch when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is taken off the court.
Despite having guys like Jalen Williams posting 21.2 points per night this season and Chet Holmgren boasting career averages of 16.0 points himself, the numbers seem to suggest this OKC offense absolutely plummets without their superstar.
However, with the return of the big man, hopes among fans and pundits was that his presence could help instill some life into their non-SGA scoring punch.
Though there were initial signs of progress with Holmgren back in the fold, many believed the lofty metrics to be highly volatile and strongly influenced by a small sample size.
With just two weeks remaining on the regular season schedule, the goal should be for coach Mark Daigneault to get more experimental with his on-court schemes and lineups to find a solution to their offensive woes without Gilgeous-Alexander on the hardwood.
Sadly, as of late, the promise the 22-year-old possessed seems to be far from bankable, as he's been rather timid in the post, inconsistent with his mid-to-long-range jumper, and very sloppy with the ball.
Over these final seven games, Chet Holmgren needs to find a way to put these cold stretches to bed and head into the playoffs on the right foot. Otherwise, fans will have every right to fear that last postseason's tumultuous secondary offense is bound to rear its ugly head once again.