We SHOULD have lost to the Mavs but the Thunder played out of their minds and the Mavs…well, played so poorly that Cuban temporarily lost his mind. As reader Joey wisely points out: “If we go 0-3 when he comes back, it won’t mean a thing because we SHOULD lose to those teams. Instead of playing below average opponents, OKC has four straight potential playoff teams looming on the schedule. And when Durant steps back on the floor (presumably tomorrow against Phoenix) things should be better for him because he’ll have a group of guys playing with more confidence and a better understand of their role.īut you can’t entirely judge Durant on the immediate results. Thabo Sefolosha was a bear defensively and a smooth operator offensively. Russell Westbrook was making everybody better around him. Guys like Kyle Weaver and Nenad Krstic picked up their offensive games. There would be no “Pass it to Durant, stand back and watch.” It was five working as one on both ends of the floor. They knew in order to win, there couldn’t be any room for error. The team has worked together and focused on all the details and little things. Some very, very good things have happened. I don’t deny that something’s changed without Durant in the lineup. And the two road wins were over Memphis and Sacramento. And you know, OKC’s kind of stinky on the road.īut in this stretch of good basketball, OKC has played just three plus-.500 teams and won three of the five at home. Oh, and seven of those 12 were on the road. OKC played the Lakers twice, New Orleans, Portland twice, Denver, Dallas and Phoenix. In February, eight of the 12 opponents the Thunder played were above.
Other than that, wins against Memphis, Philly, Sacramento and Washington were kind of expected. Then he goes down with an ankle injury against Dallas and the Thunder pushes the Mavericks to overtime in Dallas and then goes 5-2 without their star.īut let’s be realistic here: The only game out of those five that OKC really shouldn’t have won was at home against Dallas. But February wasn’t as kind to OKC, with the team going 3-9 and 3-8 with KD in the lineup. The team won that night against Golden State and then went 7-7 in January, shedding all that “worst team ever” jibberjabber. Look, OKC really turned everything around New Year’s Eve. It’s not secret that Durant isn’t a great defender, but he more than makes up for it by putting the ball in the basket – a lot. Yes, the Thunder’s defense has been night and day better with KD on the bench. You make think the stats are there and it may make sense to say it. Oh, and keep in mind, for four of those games there was no Jeff Green either (and OKC went 3-1 without him). Maybe they’re joking or maybe they’re serious. Needless to say, it has brought up talk of the ChewingĮwing Theory and people wondering if KD was the actually the problem. The Thunder is 5-2 in their last seven with a three-game winning streak squeezed in there. And true, the Thunder’s put together their best stretch of the season with their best player on the bench. It seems like every paragraph about the Thunder these days makes some reference to OKC winning games without Kevin Durant.
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