Inconsistency, Injuries, and Lack of Energy Plague Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are 2-2 in the NBA restart, and there are significant points of concern as they get closer to the playoffs. Inconsistency, injures, and lack of energy are all plaguing the Thunder.
Two of these issues can be controlled, the other you have to fight through. At some point, Steven Adams, Mike Muscala, and Dennis Schroder will be back in the rotation.
Schroder, of course, is still with his family celebrating the birth of his daughter. When he comes back, he will have to quarantine for four days, so in a sense, you can view his loss as an injury because someone must make up for his 19 points per game.
According to Danilo Gallinari, the Thunder must also replace the energy he brings off the bench. What's alarming about that statement is Oklahoma City has plenty of "energy guys" to feed off.
Starting (but not ending) with Lu Dort, who during the loss to Memphis was not only scoring (16 points 4/5 from three) but was also willing to sacrifice his body for the sake of getting a fast break started. Dort is starting to find a rhythm on offense, and his physicality, on defense should be enough to inspire his teammates.
If Dort's play isn't enough, how about wanting to avoid the Nuggets in the first round. The Thunder is only a half-game behind the Jazz for the fifth seed and game behind the Rockets for fourth. But time is running out.
When looking back at Friday's game, during the first quarter, the Thunder was patient looking for open shots and passing the ball. In the second, there were way too many shots early in the clock, and with no Steven Adams to help keep possessions alive, you were only getting one look at the basket each trip down the court.
Good coaches will create a crisis to motivate teams who are going through the motions, for Billy Donovan, there is nothing to create the Thunder are facing a real emergency. Sunday, the Thunder will deal with a Wizards team who is eliminated from the playoffs, then Monday they face the Suns who haven't lost a game since the restart.
A perfect test to see if Oklahoma City can bring the same intensity against two teams going in different directions. As Al Davis says, "Just Win Baby."
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With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.