BOSTON -- There is no blueprint for Oklahoma City's plight, which is disorienting for a franchise that's followed a meticulously-crafted plan since drafting Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in back-to-back years. Not that there haven't been setbacks along the way, especially after their step-by-step rise to the Finals in 2012.
The Thunder don’t want your pity. They’re just trying to win
After a much-needed win against the Celtics, the injury-depleted Thunder try to find their way with a new cast of players.
Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Yet through it all, the Thunder have been spectacularly consistent once they established their place in the league hierarchy. With Durant coming off an MVP season and an emerging supporting cast ready to play meaningful rotation minutes, it seemed as if everything was aligned for OKC to break through and take that final step.
And then everyone got hurt.
The litany of injuries is endless, from Durant and Westbrook to Perry Jones, Andre Roberson, Grant Jerrett and Mitch McGary. It's a list that until recently also included Reggie Jackson, Jeremy Lamb and Anthony Morrow. Not surprisingly, the Thunder have struggled.
"We don't make excuses," coach Scott Brooks said. "We have quite a few built-in excuses, but we don't do it. We take pride in that. You've got choices to make. You can be better from it, or you can be bitter about it. We choose to be better from the situation we're in right now."
If the Thunder could take solace in anything during the first few weeks of the season, it's that they've been able to compete most nights. There have been a handful of blowouts when not even the best intentions can compensate for an obvious talent disparity. Mixed in with those ugly losses have been setbacks of the hard-fought variety, like a three-point loss to the Clippers and a last-possession defeat in Memphis.
No one is feeling sorry for them, and if they were feeling sorry for themselves after a dreadful loss in Milwaukee on Tuesday night, a morning film session before their game against the Celtics Wednesday snapped them out of it. "Not a lot was said," veteran Nick Collison noted. "We all took individual responsibility."
Not a lot was said after the Thunder got down 18-3 in the first quarter against the Celtics either. But Brooks put them in a zone to slow down the C’s motion offense and OKC clicked in the second half behind Jackson and Morrow, who combined to score 42 points on 16-for-20 shooting. Suddenly, that 15-point deficit became a 15-point rout.
"We felt like we let ourselves down (against the Bucks)," Jackson said. "We felt like we had every opportunity to win, but we didn't compete with the effort that we should have. To come out here and fight on a back-to-back, guys can make excuses for being tired, we don't have all the full bodies that we should have. Nobody made excuses. Everybody woke up today and made it evident that we wanted to compete."
Every win feels significant for the Thunder right now because it is. There is still time to get this right before Durant and Westbrook return, and with players like Jackson, Morrow and Lamb returning to the lineup, there’s enough talent to keep their heads above water. But winning games is particularly important because they play in the Western Conference, where 45 wins gets you an early vacation and even 50 doesn’t make you feel safe.
“At first, people were just trying to feel out what it’s going to be like,” Collison said. “Now we’re at the point where we have to figure out how to win, because we need to win games. We’re getting guys back, we’re getting a little more depth. Now hopefully we can settle in and figure out how we want to play.”
It helps, the Thunder believe, that their roster is stocked with veteran players who have good intentions and young players who they’ve developed for this kind of opportunity. There are players like Collison, whom Brooks calls “our glue guy,” and players like Jackson, who has made no secret about his desire to start and get paid. Neither of those things make Jackson abnormal. They make him honest.
“We take pride in developing our players,” Brooks said. “We draft players to get them better. He’s improved every year. Nothing has ever been given to any of our players. He had to earn it. He didn’t play many minutes his first year, but he worked every day and gave himself an opportunity to get better.”
There’s a bit of push and pull with Jackson, who developed from rotation afterthought to important reserve in his first three seasons and is now carrying OKC’s offense at over 22 points per game. Brooks wants him to be a point guard that is a facilitator of both their offense and defense. Jackson is at his best with the ball in his hands forcing the action.
"He's really good," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "He's one of these guards that can attack you downhill, attack your bigs and score on you, kind of like the Kyle Lowry's and Monta Ellis' of the world."
Stevens said that before the game when he shot back at a question about a trap game and warned everyone that this was not going to be an easy night. “This exact team beat us by 20 last year, so I don’t know what a trap game is for a team coming off what we came off of last year,” Stevens said. “We can’t afford to not have good days. We’re just not in a position to afford that.”
The Celtics, who had a chance to go over .500 for the first time in Stevens’ tenure, had a very bad day. It was mainly because Jackson took over in the third quarter, scoring 14 points as OKC took the lead. Then in the fourth, he set up Morrow, who made eight of his shots en route to a 19-point quarter. It wasn’t anything complicated, just basic pick-and-roll basketball with two players locked in rhythm.
“I was going to ride him until to the end,” Jackson said of his backcourt mate. “That’s the name of the game. You find a mismatch and you keep taking advantage of it.”
This was the Reggie Jackson that Brooks wants to see. Brooks complimented his point guard’s ability to control the tempo and get everyone involved offensively and on the same page defensively.
In many ways, Jackson is the key for Oklahoma City right now. He’s one of the few players left who can create offense for himself and for others. Until the stars come back, the Thunder will live and die with Jackson’s ability to run the team.
“Reggie is a tremendous point guard,” Morrow said. “He’s a special player. He can get to the rim, he can make shots and he definitely has that dog in him. And he brought it out.”
The shellshock is over and they’re not allowing themselves to think about Durant and Westbrook bailing them out. This is what they have now and they have to make the best of it.
“I try not to look ahead,” Brooks said. “I know our team is going to come together. Eventually those guys are coming back from their injuries, but I think it does our group a disservice if I start thinking about those guys coming back. I’m proud of the guys that we have right now. We’re going to continue to build with the guys we have right now.”
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