With each passing second, the lower bowl was emptier and emptier. By the end of the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s humiliating 124-97 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, only one fan of the road team could be heard throughout the lower bowl as he cheered on one of the biggest upsets of the season.
The reigning NBA champions require some soul-searching. After looking like they were gonna walk their way to back-to-back Larry O’Briens, a recent mediocre 6-6 stretch has folks from across the league wondering about their morality.
Well, I don’t think you can wave away this loss as just being part of a slump. It’s one thing to lose a close game on the road against one of the better teams in the league. It’s another where you’re embarrassed in your own gym against a bottom-tier team.
The last few weeks have bubbled to this result. There have been signs that the Thunder were not playing up to par. But you could’ve shooed them away. This result was a cold slap from reality that there are things that need to be corrected. You can still believe OKC is the title favorite — heck, the season sample size says that. But perhaps the gap between them and the rest isn’t as large as it was last season.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault will need to figure things out. And quickly. You can’t let bad habits bleed into the rest of your game. While still the NBA’s best defense, they’ve been sliced apart too frequently in recent games. The offense has also deteriorated. To the point that even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks human.
“I thought they came in here with a sense of purpose. They obviously threw the first punch. They kept their foot on the gas through the 48 minutes for the most part. They deserve a lot of credit,” Daigneault said. “Obviously, they were the more ready team from the jump. We made a little bit of a push there at the end of the first, but for the most part, those 48 minutes belonged to them.”
Alas, the regular season moves along. That’s the inherent beauty of a lengthy schedule. Even when things look unfixable, you get to start fresh and usually play another opponent in the next couple of days. They still have a lot of goodwill left to burn, but the Thunder need to get back on track.
“There’s times in the NBA season when the wind is in your face. There’s times where the wind is at your back for different reasons. When the wind is at your back, you gotta stay grounded and humbled and keep that in context. Just continue to get better through the games,” Daigneault said. “Wind was in our back earlier this season. When the wind is in your face, you gotta endure. You gotta have the resilience and the toughness to continue to compete. Continue to stay together. Continue to focus on the controllable execution things that will help you change course.”