Are you expecting the Oklahoma City Thunder to start in-fighting or turn on each other or sour on their general situation in light of their disastrous 8-12? Well, you shouldn’t. Because they won’t. Not now.
Oklahoma City’s head coach, Billy Donovan, and Carmelo Anthony went long on Thursday talking about the team’s struggles. Everyone is clearly aware that this squad, billed as a potential threat to the Golden State Warriors, is now dancing on wafter-thin ice. But, as Anthony made clear, the Thunder’s ire is directed at their play and record, and those alone, rather than each other.
From ESPN.com’s Royce Young:
“Nobody is moping around, nobody is frustrated. I think guys are angry. I think guys are pissed,” Anthony said. “That just comes from your competitive nature, wanting to win games — understanding what we have over here, the talent level that we have over here and not being able to put it together right now. So that’s where the anger comes in at.
“I think in this game you almost have to be angry when you’re losing basketball games. The way we’re losing basketball games, it’s more on us than anybody else. The anger part comes in, and I think when you’re angry you show that you care. It’s different than being frustrated. Being angry and being frustrated are two different things.”
Despite dropping three in a row, and five of their last six overall, the Thunder and Anthony have reasons for optimism. They have the league’s second-worst winning percentage, at 1-9, through games in which neither team is trailing or leading by more than five points entering the final five minutes, according to NBA.com. That should change. And while their offense overall has struggled to strike a balance between the ball-dominant Anthony, Russell Westbrook and Paul George, their defense has verged on terrific. The Thunder also have the second-highest net rating in victories, behind only the Golden State Warriors, per NBA.com.
See? They could technically be nearing an organic turnaround.
And if the numbers don’t do it for Carmelo, he can always rest easy knowing that New York Knicks center, and former member of the Thunder, Enes Kanter still considers Oklahoma City the best team in the Western Conference, bar none.
