If you would have told me before this season started the Thunder would go 47-35, Westbrook would average a triple double, break Oscar’s record, and Westbrook would be a major contender for the MVP… I would have taken it. And here’s the thing, even if OKC loses this first round series to Houston this season can still be deemed a major success, but with a caveat attached. I want to see some other OKC players step up in this series and show me there’s hope this roster has a chance to garner more from a team standpoint next season.
It would be unfair of me to say Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams were disappointments this season, but in all candor, I’m ready to see more from each of these two players in this series and beyond. I want to see Oladipo become Westbrook’s consistent twenty point backcourt scoring partner. I’d like to see the Steven Adams of last year’s San Antonio series. The energy, the toughness, the overall team catalyst. I thought Adams was the guy last season who was OKC’s MVP in the Spurs series… a sighting of that Steven Adams is a must if OKC is going to be seriously competitive in this series. These two guys genuinely need to step up their games as we begin the real season in the NBA.
To a lesser degree, same thing with Andre Roberson. He was wonderful last season against the Spurs cutting to the basket and getting out in transition. OKC needs this Andre Roberson if they want to compete with a Rocket’s team which averages a 115 points a game.
Next on my list is Billy Donovan. He needs to bring his AAA bench management game in this series. This isn’t a great matchup for the Thunder in that they struggle making threes at times and here they are in the first round playing a Houston team which goes on regular orgy-fests making trifectas. It can’t just be Westbrook trying to score with the Rockets. It has to be a team thing. Oladipo, Adams, Roberson, Kanter, Gibson, Abrines, McDermott, Sabonis, Christon, and Grant. But Billy Donovan as a coach can’t have bad spells where his mix and match lineups go dud for a couple of minutes while the Rockets are raining threes.
OKC has to make threes in this series–it’s just simple math. Think back to last season’s series with the Warriors and those last three agonizing losses. Look at those three box scores. Even if you’re a Trump supporter with math and science not being your thing, this math isn’t that complex, this isn’t like grappling with the nuance of climate change—OKC can’t give up a substantial negative differential from three point land every game in this series. Some guys not named Westbrook have to make some threes. Some guys not named Westbrook need to score the ball…period.
Do I think OKC is going to win this series? I would probably say not because the consistency from other players absent Westbrook just hasn’t been present this basketball season against the top three teams in the West. OKC went 0-4 versus the Warriors. They went a combined 2-9 against the Warriors, Spurs, and Rockets and did not win a road game against any of the three teams. It’s just very hard for me to ignore all of this even though I adore the Thunder. But one thing which gives me a sliver of hope is that this is not a great Houston team from a defensive standpoint. These guys are not the Warriors defensively.
So if I were forced to make a pick…I’d say the Rockets in either five or six games.
But as a Thunder fan looking ahead to next season, what I really want to see in this series are some young guys competing and growing up as a team. I don’t want to see Westbrook playing 1 on 5 basketball for 48 minutes.
I’m ready to see the OKC Thunder future starting tomorrow night in Houston.