Another one down, 56 more to go
At this point, it’s just a mental test to see if I can carry this out for the rest of the season. Because it’s pretty difficult to come up with anything to say – much less interesting – when a team loses just about every night and loses because of the same reasons. But here I am and here I go:
I didn’t really expect Oklahoma City (2-24) to win tonight. In fact, I saw about a 10 percent chance of it happening. But that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Things like 10 missed free throws, 20 turnovers – eight in the fourth quarter alone – and just overall poor execution can drive a fan insane, sucky team or not. All five Clipper starters scored in double figures, with the lowest man having 12. Los Angeles is playing as good as it has all season, but regardless, this was another opportunity missed. The Thunder hung around for three quarter but failed to play the fourth.
I truly think the weight of trying to over-perform is one of many ailments of this squad. The Thunder is trying so hard to win at home, to break the new losing streak, to get on track and show they really aren’t this bad, that they are overthinking and overplaying. All the fans feel it – just waiting for the next thing to go wrong for the game to turn away from the team. And the team definitely feels it. I guess that kind of comes with losing 24 of your first 26. I’ve said it about 24 times already, but this young group just has no clue how to win.
Look, I know this is a rebuilding year and we all knew it coming in. But there’s a difference between rebuilding and
this. I’m not giving up though and neither is this city. We’re in it for the long haul – even if the Thunder makes history in the worst way possible. We’ll wear that as a badge of honor five years from now when OKC cruises into the playoffs – the ones that hung tough can say they rode the ship to the bottom of the ocean. It’s definitely tough to try and make yourself care now, but hopefully a fruitful offseason will yield hope.
A few days off before the Thunder hosts Toronto on Friday night.
