Thunder doesn't like view from outside playoffs looking in
OKLAHOMA CITY –€“ The challenges for Scott Brooks and the Thunder this season have been numerous and unexpected.
All sorts of injuries, new lineups, a few trades and most notably no Kevin Durant, save for a stretch of 27 games. Overcoming all that is a lot to deal with.
But this team and Brooks have never had to scoreboard watch. Not like this, anyway.
A season that was supposed to be sensational has now come down to hitting the refresh button to see how New Orleans is doing.
This wasn't supposed to happen, but then again the Thunder weren't supposed to be losing quite like this to the Spurs in April.
Three Western Conference Finals for the Thunder in the past four seasons has been a notable accomplishment, but now it feels like a wedding ring that's been turned into a necklace. A melted-down memory.
From top seed to TV watching.
Oh, sure, Oklahoma City has tracked the standings during years past, but it was always just for cosmetic reasons. Electively. The Thunder players and staff knew this team was going to the playoffs, it was just a matter of who and where they would be playing. Now "standings watch" is part of the daily diet. Necessary with four games to go in the regular season and out of the playoffs as of Tuesday night.
It doesn't suit this team, maybe because we're not used to it.
Oklahoma City has now lost four in a row and six of the past seven. Their only win in that span was when they rallied from 20 points to beat 10th-place Phoenix. There was no rally Tuesday. The Spurs dominated. The Thunder faltered. It was 113-88 and it hurt even more for Oklahoma City because now this team has fallen behind New Orleans for the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference playoffs.
With the Thunder loss and the the Pelicans win, Oklahoma City is a half-game behind New Orleans, but New Orleans has played one fewer game and the Pelicans also own the tiebreaker over the Thunder. So, virtually Oklahoma City is 1.5 games behind New Orleans with games still left against playoff teams Portland and Indiana.
Four losses in three games against the Western elite sunk the Thunder during the past week. But give the Pelicans credit, too. They beat Golden State on Tuesday and now have Memphis, Houston, Phoenix and San Antonio coming up.
"We focus on each game," Brooks said. "We want to make the playoffs. We knew it was going to be tough. But our guys have battled. We're not going down like we did tonight. We're going to play much better Friday night."
That shouldn't be too difficult. The Thunder shot just 40 percent Tuesday, committed 15 turnovers, trailed by 19 after one quarter, by 22 at halftime and never led.
But even if they do play better, and there are no signs to think it will start Friday against Sacramento in Oklahoma City, it might not even matter. Not any more. Not with New Orleans ahead in the standings. Play better all you want, you gotta have help.
"Well, we've never been in this position, so this our first time fighting for a spot," Russell Westbrook said. "It's definitely a different feeling for us."
It's a different feeling for everyone because everyone is used to this team competing for home playoff games, top seeding, championships. You know.
Get used to it. It's time.
"We have to worry about Thunder basketball," Dion Waiters said. "We can't worry about New Orleans. We know what we got to do."
What they have to do is win and what they have to do is adjust to being behind in the standings.
It's something they've never dealt with before.
Follow Andrew Gilman on Twitter: @andrewgilmanOK
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