Oklahoma City Thunder Primed to Storm Up the Standings
OKLAHOMA CITY — "Scary" was an appropriate word to describe the sequence late in Thursday's second quarter, the one that stopped some hearts in Ohio and left another superstar scrambling out of his seat in the locker room.
But "strange" works well as a description, too. It was strange, considering all of the bad breaks that have befallen the Thunder this season, that this time one of their stars was still standing, while an opponent's, in this case one of Cleveland's, was sprawled out in agony.
Russell Westbrook had risen for a wing jumper, with Kyrie Irving extending his left arm toward him, his left side colliding with Westbrook's torso, left knee knocking into Westbrook's left knee, left foot planting awkwardly inward, all before stumble-sliding forward on the floor.
TOP NEWS
LeBron James, Lakers Criticized by Fans After Failing to Close Out Rockets Despite Reaves' Return
RJ Explains Harden Scuffle
All 4 East Series Are 3-2 👀
Westbrook didn't find his feet, either, hurtling in reverse, but this time he was fine. It was Irving who would require attention, from trainers and then teammates—Anderson Varejao helping him toward the tunnel, and LeBron James meeting him once he got there.
"I felt something buckle," Irving said of his knee later, vowing not to watch the replay.
What was Cavaliers coach David Blatt thinking as he watched it live?
"Fear, worry, concern...and hope," Blatt said. "Which ultimately won the day."
It did, with Irving returning in the second half to play 23 of 24 minutes, looking tentative at times but not too troubled by pain. The Cavaliers, however, didn't win a ninth straight game, as the Thunder recovered from squandering a large lead to ultimately prevail 103-94.
Fear, worry, concern...and hope.
That's also an accurate summary of the Thunder's emotions during this 2014-15 season, now that they've survived 14 games without Westbrook, 17 games without Kevin Durant, and injuries to Perry Jones, Reggie Jackson and Anthony Morrow, among others, to reel off four straight victories.
This win, with James absent and Irving hobbling, won't convince most that the Thunder are all the way back. Still, you certainly can see signs of a storm up the standings.
You can see a shot for them, at the least, to become one of the most dangerous No. 8 seeds in NBA history, a team with a chance to repeat the feat of the 1999 New York Knicks, who rose from the last spot in the playoffs to the NBA Finals.
Those Knicks had some injuries too—Patrick Ewing missing 12 games, Latrell Sprewell missing 13—and they were dealing with a 50-game lockout-shortened season.
The Thunder have much more time, with 60 dates left on the schedule. But the East, while not the embarrassment it is now, wasn't nearly as imposing as the current Western Conference. At 9-13, the Thunder are looking up at 11 other teams, including seven that are at least 10 games over .500, with seventh-seeded Dallas already a full seven games ahead.
That may be too much ground to make up, especially in the short term since the Thunder's schedule isn't especially forgiving. The slate includes the Warriors, Trail Blazers, Spurs, Mavericks and two games with the Suns, all before 2015 starts.
But that eighth spot? It appears to be theirs to take, as they're just 2.5 games behind Phoenix and likely to hurdle all of the teams between—Sacramento, New Orleans, Denver—within a couple of weeks. They will do so even if their offensive rhythm remains somewhat ragged, as it was Thursday, simply because their top two players are just too talented.
Kevin Durant hasn't played more than 30 minutes in any of his five games back, and many of those minutes were wasted on this night. Teammates failed to deliver the ball even while Matthew Dellavedova—scrappy for sure but seven inches shorter—was guarding him.
Durant missed all three shots in the first quarter and had tallied only 11 through the third, with Westbrook slithering and skying to do most of the scoring. Any concerns about Westbrook's surgically repaired hand and knee should be quelled by now, simply by watching a selection of his hammer dunks over the past several days, including a vicious transition slam and stomp in Thursday's second quarter.
"Speed," Westbrook said. "Speed is our advantage, man. We've got to use that to our advantage every night."
When asked to describe his comportment on the court, Westbrook was similarly spare with words.
"Angry," he said simply.
His team has reason to be, after all that's gone wrong so far this season, a title contender forced to spend so much time climbing back to respectability. Durant won't repeat as MVP, not now, not with the starts of Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, Blake Griffin, James Harden and others, not with the records of their teams, with the exception of the one for which Davis toils. But it won't be long before Durant finds his stride.
"You can see he's getting his rhythm back," Westbrook said. "He closed the game for us."
He did so on defense, with two blocks within 45 seconds, including an emphatic swat of rookie Joe Harris' shot into the stands. He did so on offense, as the Thunder eventually exploited the mismatches, and Durant converted a dunk, turnaround, layup and two free throws in the final one minute and 45 seconds.
"I thought Russell did a great job of finding him and putting him in positions to find him in a spot where they're having trouble double-teaming," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "That's something we've made some adjustments (about) in the last few games."
The Thunder have been exceptional defensively all season, even with so many players missing, allowing only one opponent to shoot above 50 percent. With Durant and Westbrook both back, opponents have shot 44.3, 38.1, 44.8, 40.5 and 36.5 percent. That will give them time to work out some offensive kinks.
"We got a ways to go; I think we can get a lot better, which is good," said forward Nick Collison, one of the few Thunder players to play as many as 21 of 22 games. "But I've seen it the last couple games. We've been running in the mud a little bit. The New Orleans game was awful. Philly, Detroit, we didn't play great, kind of stuck in the mud. But Milwaukee, I was really encouraged by, tonight I was encouraged. But I think it's just getting guys back and getting comfortable with how we're gonna play."
Two guys in particular.
"We're pretty close," Westbrook said.
"We're growing, we're growing," Durant said.
In many ways. Consider the case of the curmudgeonly Kendrick Perkins, who famously kicked Bulls center Joakim Noah out of the Thunder's dressing quarters last November, repeatedly asking if "they just let anybody in the locker room." Thursday night, before the media entered, James stopped by that same Thunder locker room to connect with Durant before heading to New Orleans with the Cavaliers. This time, Perkins let it pass.
"I actually know LeBron, so I'm not gonna be the bad guy in no more of those situations," Perkins said with a laugh. "I refuse."
Perkins went on to add that while James not playing was disappointing for the fans, "For us, we're like, yes! Him not playing is one less headache that we got to deal with."
The Kendrick Perkins comedy minute was a strange ending to a strange night, still relatively early in the Cavaliers' extremely strange season. But if you want to describe the Thunder now, "scary" should be the word of choice.
.jpg?w=600 "Shedeur not currently in line for Browns QB1")
.jpg?w=600 "Ranking Every NFL Defense After 2026 Draft 📊")
