So yesterday it was revealed Russell Westbrook will have a hand surgery and a knee re-scope this off season. We were also told Paul George has two shoulders which will require surgery.
Does this excuse the Thunder massive swoon?
No it does not because none of these injuries were to the brains of the two stars and this was the dumbest of the sixteen teams which qualified for the NBA Playoffs.
If you told me they were suffering from some sort of brain trauma which affected basketball decision making then I might give them a pass. But otherwise…no.
This team led the NBA in technicals received. They were in dead last place in number of team passes made per game. They routinely made the dumb play in the last six minutes of games following the All-Star break. This is a dumb team.
And let’s even look back at the Miracle in Philly road win when the Thunder should have lost in regulation when Russell Westbrook lost his mind with a sequence of horrific decisions before fouling out.
Being a dumb team and a dumb team without a reliable shooting guard are what doomed this team. Most pro athletes are playing hurt at the back end of their seasons. Their bodies become worn out. It’s a cycle for the athlete and the human body especially when one reaches the age of thirty.
The Thunder spin is in full swing in the NBA city which no longer has a viable Oklahoma City newspaper covering it.
No one locally covers this team which does not have an inherit quid pro quo coming right back at them.
So unless there was acute head trauma suffered by the two regular season stars this wasn’t on injuries.
This was on being a dumb team which can’t shoot and is now a collective 4-12 in post season without Kevin Durant carrying their lunch box for them.