Thunder drop a deuce against the Kings, 104-83

BOX SCORE

Hashtag, welp.

I’m having a real hard time remembering back-to-back games that went worse than this for a full strength Thunder team. After taking a bare-bottom spanking from the Warriors on Monday, the expectation was for the Thunder to bounce back with the kind of vengeance we’re used to seeing from them, playing with a strong sense of urgency and pride.

Nope, nope, and nope.

It was obvious from tipoff that the same cold virus that had the Thunder dragging in Oakland followed them north to Sacramento. The Thunder shot 5-of-24 in the first quarter, missing 14 consecutive shots at one point. It appeared to me that they were playing hard and with energy, at least for a good amount of the game. It’s just that they didn’t make a damn thing all night. Basketball is a hard game when you can’t get the ball to go in the hoop. Offense tends to look real, real bad when that happens.

I think the easiest commonality between the two games to circle is Russell Westbrook. He played maybe his most brilliant month ever in December, finding a beautiful balance between crazy and controlled, hitting his midrange shots and attacking the basket with a purpose. But against the Warriors and Kings, he went 8-of-40 from the floor and turned the ball over nine times, seven coming tonight.

Kevin Durant was better tonight than he was Monday, scoring 24 on 8-of-20, but he didn’t have an assist and never really got completely into an offensive flow. Overall, the same issue from Monday was the issue tonight: Westbrook and Durant didn’t play well, so neither did the Thunder. When those two guys aren’t fantastic, the Thunder have problems. That’s obviously an indictment on their identity, in that they don’t have one past their two superstars.

It’s supposed to be defense. A hounding, energetic, tenacious defensive identity that permits the Thunder an off night. Against the Warriors, it was non-existent. Tonight, the defense was actually decent, with the Kings shooting under 40 percent as DeMarcus Cousins struggled through a 6-of-23 night as Serge Ibaka blocked him 20 times. But the Kings made some shots when they needed them, and any push the Thunder made was met with a Sacramento run in response. It was a game of doing two good things, and then following them with five bad things.

So. The big question. Should you panic? Freak out? Lose you mind? Tear off your shirt and run naked into the cold Oklahoma night lamenting Scott Brooks’ coaching? This may come as a major shock to you, but nah. I know, I know, it’s not like me to remain steadfast and resist any sweeping worry, but this time, I’m not.

You know why I don’t get caught up in the rush to panic? Because I’ve experienced SO MANY nights like this in covering this team the last seven years. Granted, the situation has been different in the past with the record not as ugly as it is currently, but I’ve seen the Thunder play horrible and fans freak out. I’ve seen them lose three straight and fans freak out. I’ve seen them get blown out by a bad team and fans freak out.

And they always straighten themselves out.

The fact they played back-to-back games like this since getting to .500 is exceptionally disappointing. It also stings that they’ve fallen four games behind the improving Suns. It’s getting stressful right now, no doubt.

But this has been more about eight really crappy quarters of basketball than some kind of fundamental, institutional problem that persists in the team. They haven’t gotten terrible overnight. If this was any other season and they were 27-9 right now like they probably would be if Durant and Westbrook hadn’t been hurt, you’d be more apt to calm yourself down and remember that they’re good but sometimes play bad over an 82 game schedule.

There’s no question that they’re starting to run low on time. They aren’t permitted too much of an acclimation period to adjust to new players and get people back up to form. They’re in a serious hole and the situation gets more and more dire with each loss, especially to teams they’re better than. We can keep pointing out how many games are left, but eventually they’re going to run out of them if things don’t change.

Still: I’ve seen these guys keep their heads when the temperature rises time and time again, and they always have a response. So let’s see what they’ve got this time around.

NOTES:

• Dion Waiters’ debut was… disappointing-ish. He shot 1-of-9, scoring four points with two rebounds and an assist. His first shot had me shaking my head wondering what Presti just got himself into. He rebounded a miss, brought the ball up, got a high screen, dribbled in, backed out and took a 22-foot contested 2-pointer with 16 on the shot clock. I haven’t watched him play nearly enough, but it seems like he’s got a bad habit of giving up a decent look, or a good situation to swing a pass, only to dribble into a tough shot.

• Waiters did flash some encouraging skill attacking the paint. A number of times he beat his man, drew defenders and dropped a good pass to a Thunder big. They didn’t finish them for him much — otherwise he could’ve had four or five assists — but he does seem to have some ability as a creator.

• Oh, and those judging Waiters off his debut: IT’S ONE GAME SHEESH. But then again I remember a good many folk writing off James Harden after a few poor preseason games.

• I wish I could diagnose what’s gone wrong with Westbrook, but really, it just seems like he’s missed a whole bunch of shots. His selection has dissolved, but that’s really happened later in games when he starts throwing up hero shots that he thinks are worth 15 points or something. More than anything, it just looks like he’s missing the shots he made in December.

• Positive! Serge Ibaka flirted with a triple-double: 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks.

• Anthony Morrow had an uncharacteristically off night, hitting just 3-of-12 (1-of-6 from 3), with a lot of them open looks.

• Nick Collison must’ve traded hands with Serge Ibaka before the game.

• Reggie Jackson had 14 points in 22 minutes with four assists, but still, I just didn’t like the way he played. He didn’t attack the basket near enough and seems to have fallen in love with that step-back rainbow jumper.

• Something I don’t quite understand: If Jeremy Lamb has found his way to the end of the bench because of bad defense, then why does Reggie Jackson get continuous play? I realize Jackson is a much better and more dynamic player, but if defense is the supposed priority, I’m not sure there’s worse than Jackson right now.

• You know what was incredible? That Cousins and Westbrook didn’t get technicals in the first quarter for that little tussle over the ball. And somehow both guys didn’t completely lose their heads either.

• The Kings court just looks terrible on TV.

• The new line I got tonight from so many people was “Brooks has lost this team.” What does that even mean? Do you think these guys are intentionally not playing hard for him? As if this group with some of the highest of character players and an immense amount of pride would just quit on him? Maybe Brooks’ coaching isn’t resonating, but lost the team? Nah.

• My cue when fans are REALLY mad is when they start getting mad at me, like I’ve had some kind of hand in this debacle. Yelling at me to HOLD THE TEAM ACCOUNTABLE and QUESTION BROOKS and QUIT BEING A HOMER. It’s always fun when people reach that breaking point.

• Since I guess I haven’t made myself clear enough the last few years, my stance on Scott Brooks hasn’t changed: I don’t know if he’s the clear-cut right coach for this team. Because we haven’t been able to completely evaluate him. He’s taken a team with almost everyone under 26 to three conference finals and one finals and won some 70 percent of his games. And his team’s failures have come with caveats — Westbrook’s injury that derailed a team I think would’ve won an NBA title and Ibaka’s injury that put last year’s group in an 0-2 hole. You can yell about wanting a new coach, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. Unless Rick Carlisle is leaving Dallas or Gregg Popovich has had enough of San Antonio, I can’t find an available coach that is going to improve the Thunder. The way I see it with all the angst about Brooks is it’s a crutch fans use to lash out with. Instead of just saying, “the team sucked tonight,” it’s way more therapeutic to throw all the blame at Brooks’ feet and want him gone. Like punching the proverbial wall.

• You know who fires coaches on a whim to appease an angry mob? Poorly run organizations. Continuity, loyalty and patience are hallmarks of the best ones.

• All that said: Brooks holds plenty of responsibility in the way the team played these last two nights. And I haven’t seen the kind of offensive development that the organization has been touting the past few months. There’s still too much erratic behavior on the floor and with the leash Brooks extends Westbrook, the Thunder are prone to getting stupid in a hurry. That’s on him, no doubt. He doesn’t have a free pass from me. If this team misses the playoffs despite having a healthy Westbrook and Durant for 60 games, then I think it’s absolutely fair to ask the big question. But I’d kind of like to let this thing play out before I make that kind of bold statement.

• In his constant search for alliteration, Matt Pinto called a blocked shot a “sendback” tonight. The hell is a sendback?

• Did Perry Jones play? I keep forgetting.

• For a large part of the game the Thunder were on the lopsided end of the foul count. It got somewhat straightened out by the end of the game, but the Kings got a lot of early free throws.

• Here’s the elephant in the room that no one wants to mention: The Thunder are clearly just not the same without Brian Davis.

• 0-2 since trading Lance Thomas with losses of 26 and 21. Not sayin just sayin.

• What’s most disappointing about this loss is that you can stomach the Warriors running you over in Oracle. They’re great, especially in their home building. But this was a great chance to get back to .500 with an opportunity to go over it on Friday.

• Westbrook’s dunk was cool, at least.

Next up: Home against the Jazz on Friday