Thunder must avoid falling into dangerous mindset amid struggles

The Oklahoma City Thunder have run into quite the difficult stretch recently, at least relative to the expectations that were starting to pile up for this group earlier in the season. As they continue to strive to be the best team to be, the Thunder are going to have to be sure they avoid falling into a dangerous mindset: being puffed up and letting ego get in the way of success.

Jalen Williams spoke after Wednesday's win over the Utah Jazz, and his words certainly didn't seem to resonate with everyone. "This is like gonna sound cocky," he said. "But the last three years we win so much that when we have a normal human stretch of losing a game or two that we shouldn’t have, the world freaks out.”

This is clearly supposed to be a thoughtful answer, but it really comes off as more of an arrogant or overconfident one. While it's true that this stretch of losing six games out of 12 is likely not the end of the world, it does seem a bit lacking in self-awareness to be making statements about outsiders reacting unreasonably to OKC's losses.

Less than a month ago, we were talking about this team maybe beating the Warriors' record for wins in a regular season, and about them being one of the greatest teams of all-time. Those aspirations are now down the drain, and it feels disingenuous to simply cast that subject aside and act like it was never relevant.

The Thunder have to have a better mental response to adversity

You didn't usually see this kind of talk coming from past legendary teams like the San Antonio Spurs' dynasty of the 2000's and 2010's. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were one of the greatest trios in league history, and using this kind of language at a time like this would have been totally foreign for them.

The Thunder are the top dogs in this league, even despite their recent struggles. They set a standard for themselves with a championship as well as their high level of play to begin the year, closing out tight contests and dominating their competition. To act like it's now all of a sudden just okay to incur a few losses and get away from that previous standard is a dangerous precedent to set.

Part of being an NBA champion is owning up to your failures. Losing a handful of games truly isn't a crisis, but brushing it off like it's beneath discussion doesn't really help, either.

The last few weeks have been a reminder of just how fickle momentum can be in this league, especially when expectations start climbing. If Oklahoma City wants to wind up as champions once again come June, their response to adversity is going to have to evolve.