Barnstorming: The Oklahoma City Thunder are ugly, angry, and winning
By Ian Levy
The Golden State Warriors have sort of skewed the scale for excellence this season. Being pretty damn good just doesn’t have the same pop as it might otherwise have. The Warriors and their 26 wins cast a long shadow, which the San Antonio Spurs have been hanging out in for a few weeks now, avoiding the heat, resting, staying hydrated. Now the Oklahoma City Thunder appear to be elbowing their way in for a piece of the shade.
After beating the Los Angeles Clippers last night, 100-99, the Thunder have moved to 19-9. By SRS (point differential adjusted for strength of schedule) this team is the third-best in the league and the second-best Thunder team of the Durant/Westbrook era. They’ve only lost twice this month — to the two best teams in the Eastern Conference — by a total of six points. Last night’s win against the Clippers was another statement, keeping some space between the Warriors-Spurs-Thunder tier and the rest of the West. It was also one of those back-and-forth tornados that could easily have ended with either team on its face. Saying the Thunder won a tight game doesn’t do justice to the intensity. Saying they won a sloppy game overstates the element of unintended chaos. Because that’s sort of the Thunder’s game plan. They don’t mind playing you ugly because, when the clock shrinks, they have two guys capable of turning trash into treasure.
On the final handful of possessions against Los Angeles, Westbrook drilled a three-pointer, then a pull-up jumper from the free throw line, then stole the ball from J.J. Redick and was fouled. After Dion Waiters whipped the inbounds pass off Westbrook’s hands and right to Chris Paul for a lead-stealing layup, Durant came back and hit a ridiculously contested mid-range jumper against the Clippers’ premier defender — Luc Mbah Moute. A few seconds later, Durant blocked Chris Paul’s attempted game-winner just for good measure.
This is the Thunder right here and right now.
They are Westbrook and Durant and, maybe, a little Ibaka. They seem to be done pretending they are going to be anything but themselves. They’ve pushed back the offensive stagnation every so slightly, a little more pick-and-roll, a little more movement. But they look entirely comfortable with their decision to win games by just letting their two best guys be better than anyone you’ve got. The Thunder don’t appear to care anymore about being likable, or being the standard-bearer for small market competitiveness or homegrown stars. They have a chip on their shoulder but, unlike the Warriors, aren’t waving you over to look at it during every dead ball. Westbrook is doing things we’ve never seen before in terms of offensive responsibility and Durant is having the most efficient season of his career, in part because Westbrook has blossomed into such a workhorse.
Both guys look lighter on their feet but they’re carrying some serious baggage. The bench continues to wrestle with competence. Late in the Clippers game, every possession was Dion Waiters dancing on a tightrope of catastrophe, or Enes Kanter forcing a post-up, or Kyle Singler trying desperately to stop anyone from doing anything. For all the draft picks and free agent dollars and drills and sprints and hours of player development initiatives it’s still really just Westbrook, Durant and a little Ibaka. When the moments get big, they’ll be battling five guys in different colored shirts and two or three wearing the same color. It has taken career years for both Durant and Westbrook to lift this team to where it is, and probably years off their basketball lives. Even with all that they are far from favorites.
There is going to be plenty of ugly over the rest of this season for Oklahoma City. Some losses. Some bad shots and some missed crunch time daggers. Some Waiters brain farts and some Steven Adams hair experiments. But like all the rest of the teams that really matter, the Thunder are just playing for the playoffs. They know where they’re going and they’re done wasting time, enjoying the journey and smelling roses.
When you watch Westbrook bull his way to the rim, or Durant pull-up to loft a perfect rainbow over the outstretched fingers of a defender, they’re not being selfish. Or obstinate. Or stupid, or callous, or callow. They’re taking the shortest line between two points. As they have reminded us over and over again this season, Westbrook and Durant are as good as anyone in the league (non-Steph Curry division). Taking destiny into their own hands is control for efficiency’s sake, not ego’s. Whether it’s the “right way” or even good enough to win a championship is largely immaterial.
Everywhere else on this roster, there is chaos and inconsistency (which aren’t necessarily bad things in and of themselves). On some nights Dion Waiters or D.J. Augustin can single-handedly win you a game. On others, they can single-handedly lose you one. The in-between is all contested pull-ups and uncertainty. More than anything else, Westbrook and Durant have decided to do away with the not-knowing this season. Predictability has been an obstacle for them in the past, but injuries have as much to do with their empty ring fingers as the hubris of late-game isos. The gamble of this Thunder season is to do away with illusions and mystery, to stop trying to plan surprises and just embrace their chaotic strength.
In themselves they trust, and so far they’ve been mostly right.