Considering the Thunder鈥檚 up-and-down season, it鈥檚 fair to argue that they鈥檝e been a disappointment. Heading into their 2017-2018 campaign, they found themselves armed with renewed optimism, and not just because resident superstar Russell Westbrook bagged the Most Valuable Player award on the strength of a historic run. New acquisitions Paul George and Carmelo Anthony were seen to shore up their competitiveness, to the point where early projections had them banging heads with such notables as the Warriors and the Rockets. Instead, they suffered from growing pains, putting them in a precarious situation prior to yesterday鈥檚 set-to; at stake was not just playoff seeding, but actual playoff entry.
To be sure, the Thunder still had homecourt advantage in the first round of the postseason in their sights. With three matches left in their calendar, they could run the table and improve from seventh to fourth in the conference. Conversely, they could wind up losing every outing and dropping to ninth. Such was the closeness of their battle with the Jazz, Pelicans, Spurs, Timberwolves, and Nuggets. And so they trekked to the Toyota Center with purpose. Never mind their recent swoon, and never mind that they faced the league-leading Rockets; even as they suffered setbacks in five of their last seven outings, they remained resolute.
It helped, of course, that the Rockets were likewise in a funk, especially after having been assured of finishing with the best record in the National Basketball Association. Combined with was the absence of starter Eric Gordon due to a sore left ankle, it proved to be enough to give the Thunder the outcome they wanted. And though a tough outing against the Heat is on tap tomorrow, their closer against the Grizzlies figures to be a breeze, thus accounting for a statistically healthy prognosis.
Moving forward, the Thunder have their work cut out for them. Yesterday, their offense was again hit or miss. For the most part, there was a conscious effort to move the ball; occasionally, however, the debilitating 鈥渕y turn, your turn, his turn鈥 interaction between the Big Three reared its ugly head, to predictable results. That said, their defense was stout throughout the set-to, and it certainly made the difference in the crunch. Needless to say, it will also be crucial when they head to their likely appearance in the playoffs. If they stay at seventh, they鈥檒l be meeting the Warriors, and though Westbrook will be motivated, they鈥檒l be the underdogs and required to show they鈥檙e greater than the sum of their parts to have a chance.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since 大象传媒 introduced a Sports section in 1994.
