The Whiteboard: The Thunder are inescapable

#Thunder Up.

You can’t win an NBA title in January.

The NBA’s history is littered with teams that won big games in January while the No.1 seed and then never made anything of it once winter turned to spring.

However … it’s also littered with teams that proved time and time again that they were made of the stuff of champions and no one believed it until they hoisted the trophy.

Teams including your reigning, defending, NBA champion Boston Celtics, who on Sunday afternoon discovered the biggest truth about this particular NBA season: the Oklahoma City Thunder do not mess around.

Sunday’s game introduced Boston to OKC’s penchant for never going away.

Boston outplayed them in the first half. They punished OKC’s size and found ways to attack the rim, bullying OKC’s smaller lineups.

But the Thunder are nothing if not resourceful.

In the second half, they moved Lu Dort to Jaylen Brown to shut off the water. They started playing more physically on switches to move Boston further out into help zones.

They pushed the pace and sped up Boston. That part is particularly interesting because OKC has a tendency to get sped up on their own.

That’s part of why OKC’s offense never really improved despite better opportunities and play in the second half; they made the game messy and chaotic. OKC was unstable, but Boston was more so.

Boston missed shots to be sure, that will be the comfort for the Celtics. They had the looks and missed them. But of Boston’s 31 catch-and-shoot jumpers, only eight were unguarded per Synergy Sports; 19 of OKC’s 31 were unguarded.

In reality, it was a worse shooting performance from the Thunder.

This marked the third straight game that OKC has gone down double digits, trailed at the half, and won the game by more than a possession. That’s a hard way to build a winning resume but with the Thunder, it doesn’t feel like luck, it feels like tactical adjustments and force of will.

Coaches always want their teams to fly around. No one flies around like the Thunder. Coaches want their teams to play with discipline to the gameplan. The Thunder almost never have missed rotations or broken plays. Coaches want their teams to play desperately, and for one another. Every OKC possession is like its their last.

Maybe OKC won’t win the title. Maybe they’ll be another of the teams that had their best moments in January.

But Sunday felt less like a false promise or a statement game and more of the repetitive chant that OKC has cried out all year.

The Thunder do not surrender, they are never out of it, they are never outclassed, and one way or another, the road to the title most likely goes through them.

The Thunder face the 30-win Cavaliers on Tuesday.

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NBA news and rumors roundup:

• The Jimmy Butler saga drags on with the Heat getting clocked at home by the rebuilding Jazz over the weekend. The Suns are considered the strongest suitor for Butler, and Miami outlets are reporting that a trade could come sooner rather than later.

• Speaking of the Suns, they leaked that they are benching Jusuf Nurkic and Bradley Beal for Ryan Dunne and Mason Plumlee starting Monday. The move is almost definitely less about improving the Suns’ fortunes and more about trade talks for Butler.

• If you missed it, Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama battled to a draw in a two-game set on Friday and Saturday. Well worth your time if you’re looking for a game to watch, both players were incredible.

5 things to remember about NBA trade season

1. Beware The Head Fake: Often times teams will engage on trades about one player, only to be looking for another. For example, the Mavericks were repeatedly linked to Miles Bridges according to league sources, only to pull the trigger on a deal for PJ Washington.

2. Opportunity Not Desperation: Everyone thinks teams “have” to make trades and executives never think that way because the market will smell blood and you’ll do a deal that gets you fired. Instead, watch out for teams that are having surprisingly good seasons and want to try and add something to put them into a title mix.

3. Collective Doom: This new CBA is a nightmare for teams. For example, Dallas is second apron so they literally can’t trade for Jimmy Butler because you can’t put multiple players together in a deal when you’re above the second apron. Teams used to be able to figure out how to get deals that everyone wanted done. That’s not the case anymore.

4. Familiar Foes: Trades most often happen between teams with existing relationships. Watch for teams that have done deals before, like Chicago and Orlando or the Knicks and Pistons. Also, look for when front office members used to work elsewhere, like the Kings and Rockets, whose GMs both worked under Daryl Morey in Houston.

5. Wings, Wings, Wings: Everyone needs a backup center but the teams that have them never want to trade them for some reason. (I’m looking at you, Toronto and Orlando.) Everyone needs a backup point guard, but the good ones all want to start. So it comes down to adding wings and hoping you have enough shooting and defense once April arrives.