No DeMarcus Cousins. Absent also were Omar Asik, Jameer Nelson, and Tony Allen given they were traded to the Chicago Bulls. The Pelicans were playing with ten suited players on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And, yet, in the end it was the New Orleans Pelicans coasting to an easy 114-100 win over a Thunder team which showed little heart and mental toughness even if it was on the second night of a back to back. Tough teams fight thru back to backs. Tough teams don’t cave at home against a shorthanded team which was missing one of its two best players. Mentally tough teams fight thru things like this and accomplish goals in the goal achieving portion of the season.
Tough teams don’t cave in the aftermath of losing Andre Roberson. Tough teams have resolve.
Maybe Andre Roberson was the only mental toughness thread holding this basketball team together?
Maybe.
Oklahoma City fans can say what they want about Kevin Durant, but the Durant Era in Oklahoma City was marked with teams which played hard after a loss. Played hard as if they had something to prove. This basketball team doesn’t possess that trait. This team seems to feel they’re entitled. I’m tired of writing this.
The Thunder are now 1-3 without Andre Roberson and quite frankly look lost. This is a roster which has three future NBA Hall of Famers and an elite center in Steven Adams…and yet they can’t quite seem to figure the puzzle out without Andre Roberson. As a group they can’t seem to come to terms with the notion defense, effort, and grit do kind of matter.
But then again…neither can their coach.
I have no idea whatsoever what Billy Donovan is doing with his basketball team. Even Scott Brooks knew the axiom, it all starts with defense. All championship coaches know this. It all starts with defense. Period. And yet, we’ve now seen Alex Abrines play 52 minutes in these last two Thunder losses.
I’m not blaming Alex Abrines. I’m not doing that. It’s not his fault. It’s clearly Billy Donovan’s fault unless Sam Presti is telling him to do this. I’m blaming him. This won’t be the template for replacing Andre Roberson and any good high school high coach should know this. You don’t need another scorer with the Big Four, what you need are blue collar guys like Jerami Grant and Josh Huestis or Johnathon Simmons or someone else busting their asses doing the dirty work that Andre Roberson previously did night in and night out.
That’s what you need.
And to be fair, Russell Westbrook has looked really bad these last two games. Ignore the stats, Russell Westbrook in these last two games has imploded at the end of both games. Alex Abrines isn’t why OKC is 1-3 without Andre, from my view it’s on Russell Westbrook and Billy Donovan. If your superstar and your coach can’t bring their A games to the arena then your chances of success are greatly diminished.
I’m glad I had Anthony Davis on my NBA All-Star team to play the Warriors in that he absolutely torched the jelly roll soft Thunder to the tune of 43 points and 10 rebounds. E’twaun Moore is a nice player. He’s not one of those guys most fans know, but I remember him from his days at Purdue and on this night he scored 25 points and was the second best player on the court. Nice basketball player.
I have no rants left in me for this team or coach. I won’t make excuses for them like the Fox crew does or the young writers at newsok. You have a coach being paid $6 million a year and a roster being paid $130 million a year. You would hope some professional mental toughness could present itself without Andre Roberson there providing it.
I hope these guys realize that next Tuesday the basketball world will be watching when then they travel to Oakland to play the Warriors.
Because if we see the same Thunder we’ve seen in this 1-3 stretch so far without Andre, it will be ugly. Golden State will find that open man who gets wide open as a result of either Terrance Ferguson or Alex Abrines losing their man off the dribble. Golden State will break this Thunder defense without Andre Roberson and it could be ugly.
So.. if I’m Billy Donovan–my team is watching film tomorrow and my coaching staff is huddling up and figuring out the Alex Abrines Era in Oklahoma City isn’t going to be the answer to replacing Andre Roberson. That’s just not going to happen.
The Thunder host the Lakers on Sunday in the early afternoon ABC game.
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