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The first week of March, an unusual seven days in the NBA, saw the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers end the week on a three- and four-game slide respectively. At the same time in the West the Oklahoma City Thunder seem to have their own worries, having lost two in a row, to the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Is this a cause a concern or a mere bump in the road for the title contenders?
Taking into account the players on the roster of each of these teams it would be unfair to say that the past week was a sign of things to come for all of them. For the Heat it’s their second three-game skid of the season, but nobody is worried about the two-time defending champions being unable to make it to the Conference Finals, at the very least.
But what about the other two franchises? Is it panic time for them?
Let’s focus on Kevin Durant and his Thunder, who have been moving in the opposite direction from what they intended at this point in the season despite explosive point guard Russell Westbrook making his return to the starting line-up. As hot as Durant has been this calendar year, he has failed to take the team over the line the past couple of weeks and get the W as consistently as he did prior to his team-mate’s return.
So what is the problem with the Thunder? Have they lost their tag of being championship contenders?
It’s easy to panic, given that their record in the past two weeks has not been encouraging, but the team is far from done. With 19 games left to play they are still very much in the race for the top spot in the West.
There is more than one reason why it is not yet time to panic in the Thunder locker room, and why the Thunder fans should not be unduly worried. Here are those reasons:
Westbrook is not the problem
Russell Westbrook is not the reason for the Thunder’s recent struggles
Anyone who blames Russell Westbrook for Thunder’s 3-5 record on the grounds that he has uprooted the successful team chemistry needs to dig a little deeper. The player is returning from knee injuries, and in only his sixth game back he recorded a triple double against the Philadelphia 76ers in just 20 minutes, the fastest in the NBA over the last 60 years.
He is averaging 21 points, 7.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds a game, all career highs, with a PER (Player Efficiency rating) of 23.34. Aren’t those great stats for an explosive 6 foot 3 inch point guard who has played only 33 games while making a return from knee surgeries? Definitely, without a doubt.
Yes, every player returning from injury is given that time, usually a few games, to find his groove, and although Westbrook might not have completely found his game yet, he is certainly not the sole reason for the recent losing streak the Thunder is on.
Defence can still step up
Injuries to Thabo Sefolosha and Kendrick Perkins, key contributors on the defensive end in the Thunder roster, have made a huge impact on the team defence. The Thunder are not known for their defence but they definitely do not rank in the bottom half.
While Perkins has been out since the last week of February with a groin injury, Sefolosha injured his calf in the first week of March. Although Perkins’ absence was predicted to help the Thunder, it’s been quite the opposite. The team is missing his toughness in the paint on defence, whether it’s his post defence or while contesting shots. As much as they miss Perkins though, the Thunder would be waiting for Sefolosha, their best wing defender, to make a return early April.
Their most recent losses have seen the opponents’ wing players go off for career highs – Gerald Green (41) for the Suns and Jodi Meeks (42) for the Lakers – taking the game away from them. Head Coach Scott Brooks would certainly have noted that down before anybody else noticed it. So we can expect the Coach to implement the necessary changes in the coming games.
Experience will play a huge role
Kevin Durant has been on the losing side of Finals series in the 2012 against LeBron James and the Miami Heat
Only two players among the active players on the Thunder roster have ever lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy – Caron Butler with the Dallas Mavericks and Derek Fisher with the Los Angeles Lakers.
And yet, the Thunder have a big advantage over all the other contenders in the West, barring the Spurs – they have multiple players on the roster who have the experience of playing in the NBA Finals. Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Sefolosha, the impact players in the Thunder line-up, have all tasted defeat in the championship series and the defeat has been a driving force ever since.
Durant’s game has improved and developed in more aspects than one. Despite being more than five years younger, he is giving the same competition to LeBron James in the MVP race that LeBron gave Kobe Bryant in the latter half of the previous decade.
Westbrook’s box score speaks for itself and Ibaka’s has been more of an impact on the offensive end as compared to when they played the Miami Heat for the title. If it wasn’t for Westbrook’s knee injury, Thunder looked well on course to make it back to back Finals appearances, and their chances this year are still much higher than they were the previous season.
