On Monday evening, the 3-0 OKC Thunder played the 0-3 Houston Rockets inside the Toyota Center. On Saturday night, we went to bed with the 4-3 Rockets ahead of the 3-3 Thunder in the Western Conference standings. Such will be life in the Western Conference this season for fans unless your team has three guys on it named Steph, Klay and Dramond. But for the other fourteen teams it’s going to be an up and down meat grinder of a season.
Phoenix Suns in OKC this Sunday evening to play the OKC Thunder. Both teams generically 3-3 entering tonight. Both teams rested. Phoenix features a nice guard tandem of Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight. Both Kentucky guards in previous basketball lives.
Hint…this might be a game to integrate Anthony Morrow and Mitch McGary into some sort of minutes within the flow.
But beyond this maybe happening, OKC needs to start working at getting better every game. Treating each game as an incremental opportunity to learn and get better as a team. Move the ball. Finish good looks. Play defense–as in all five guys.
Which brings me to Kendrick Perkins of all things on this beautiful Sunday morning in Deer Creek, Oklahoma. If Perk provided nothing else, he at least provided a consistent voice on the team that defense matters. Teams do not win championships in this league by being soft defensively. OKC is currently soft on the defensive end, but they don’t have to be. They have enough pieces to be better than this, but it’s kind of like all five guys on the floor need to be on board. Need to be trying.
Scott Brooks knew this, but wore his coaching voice out pleading for his team to play harder on the defensive end. Billy Donovan six games in probably has some empathy for Brooks after watching the film of the Orlando, Houston, Toronto and Chicago games. I would guess he looked at Monty Williams, Mo Cheeks and asked aloud, ” Can you believe this shit?”
Jordan and Pippen were tenacious defenders in their prime. Usually two of the best in the league on the defensive end of the floor. Same with Kobe Bryant when he was in his prime. Same with D Wade before his knees betrayed him. LeBron James plays defense, and maybe that’s one of the reasons he’s been in six straight NBA Finals. Golden State changed their team culture by bringing in Steve Kerr and Ron Adams to instill defense and were rewarded with 67 regular season wins and sixteen more post season wins, plus rings for those three guys named Steph, Klay and Dramond.
Until Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook embrace this and lead their team with a defense first team mantra—OKC’s Thunder is basically going nowhere.
Great players play both ends. End of lecture on an obscure, underground blog.
Suns at Thunder tonight.