Trouble At The Peake, Thunder Loses Playoff Spot
By Addam Francisco
After the Oklahoma City Thunder got blown away by the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night and lost their playoff spot to the New Orleans Pelicans, there are fans that aren't too happy about this. There are many rumors circulating involving the Thunder, but the only one that makes some type of sense to me is the appearance that the team as a whole is giving up on the season and better yet, Coach Scott Brooks.
Tuesday night, with the Thunder only being a half game in front of the Pelicans, we all thought there would be a great sense of urgency and execution from our team. Well, we got the complete opposite. The team came out sloppy, turnover after turnover, Kanter and Westbrook couldn't find their rhythm and never seemed to. Russell Westbrook finished the game with only 17 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists off 7 of 16 shooting. His shooting percentage wasn't atrocious, but he didn’t have that urgency or attack-like mentality that most have grown fond of. There was a lot of hesitation and at times, seemed scared to play his game. Same thing goes for Kanter. The San Antonio Spurs did a great job of getting him off the boards and away from the basket. He finished the game with just 9 points and 5 rebounds which is well below his season average with OKC. Many members from the media and fans are saying that the team is either out of gas, given up on the season due to all the injuries or even worse, gave up on Scott Brooks.
There were multiple instances where Scott Brooks would say something to the team or a player, and be brushed off like he had no authority, plus the team energy and moral was at an all time low. Another argument is all the injuries, and too many miles on Thunder roll players. Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison and Kevin Durant are out, which puts a lot of pressure on Enes Kanter to play tough defense, which simply may not be in his skill set. It puts a lot of pressure on Russell to have to have an MVP like performance every night, and puts a lot of pressure on Dion Waiters and Anthony Morrow to put up numbers they don’t usually put up.
This team was a definite title contender in October, but the minute KD went down with a broken foot, everything changed. Then after that, things got no better when Westbrook broke his hand in just the second game of season which caused him to miss a month. This has been a unfortunate season and the fact that they clawed their way back into the playoff picture is admirable, but the question is coming up. Is ALL of this too much for Oklahoma City to handle this year?
“You’ve got to feel bad for these guys,” Popovic told ESPN. “You feel sorry for them, but you’re proud of them at the same time because they play the right way and they do everything they can to win. They don’t cry. They just go play.”
Its hard to keep a good attitude during this time, trying to force their way into the playoffs. But they no longer control their own destiny, they need help, they need New Orleans to win and in the meantime they need to win all their games which may seem farfetched right now after they lost their fourth straight, and six out of seven.
Our Thunder has four games left after that 113-88 whooping by the Spurs. All four games are definitely winnable (Kings, Pacers, Trail Blazers, Timberwolves), but even if they do make the playoffs, they would have to face the 63-15 Golden State Warriors which no one can see them beating without both Durant and Ibaka. It would just be nice to make it there so we have a chance for an upset. Russell Westbrook is still healthy, and on this team. So he could explode, like we all know he can do and give the Warriors a run for their money in the first round.