Why are the Thunder so bad in these late game situations?

[Crack Daniels]

Just read a stat that said the Thunder are last in the league in total passes per game despite being top 10 in pace. Says a lot about how talented Russ and Durant are, but it also explains their struggles. Pretty damn hard to get a good shot up when the defense can ball watch without fear

 

[Fortunate Lee]

Harrison Barnes is our most clutch player

that speights mid-range shot tho fat goofy fukk is automatic from there

fukk your team breh

 

[Ethnic Vagina Finder]

Lets be clear. Oklahoma City isn't built to have a major sports franchise. The owners stole them from Seattle.

1. They let Harden walk because they didn't want to pay any luxury tax. They had a home grown big 3 and should've had at least 1 title with that group.
2. They gave away Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins.

Outside of Durant and Westbrook this is a lottery team. This team was rebuilt through the draft and ever since they've been a 50 win team they haven't replenished lost talent through free agency or the draft very well.

 

[an emissary from hell]

Dono deserves a pass this year, tho.

I should rephrase that lmao

It seems like Billy wants to implement some kind of offense, and KD/Russ revert back to old habits way too many times.

ISO can work in doses, but you can't win games consistently with that nowadays.

 

[an emissary from hell]

Lets be clear. Oklahoma City isn't built to have a major sports franchise. The owners stole them from Seattle.

1. They let Harden walk because they didn't want to pay any luxury tax. They had a home grown big 3 and should've had at least 1 title with that group.
2. They gave away Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins.

Outside of Durant and Westbrook this is a lottery team. This team was rebuilt through the draft and ever since they've been a 50 win team they haven't replenished lost talent through free agency or the draft very well.

Nah giving away Green for Perkins was good at the time. OKC needed a defensive center and Perkins fit that mold. Defensively this season they don't look the same and the 2 that NBA/Thunder fans criticized the most (Perkins/Brooks) might have something to do with that lack of effort

Jeff Green has been underwelming, trading him is nowhere near as damning as trading Harden

Plus why do people act like OKC is the only franchise that's "stolen a team" before lol

 

[Malik1time]

Dion has been a big disappointment.sometimes i forget he is playing

 

[dterpsss]

Nothing wrong with Durant or Westbrook...ibaka became a p*ssy and there is a lack of an egoless 3rd scoring option

 

[Ethnic Vagina Finder]

Nah giving away Green for Perkins was good at the time. OKC needed a defensive center and Perkins fit that mold. Defensively this season they don't look the same and the 2 that NBA/Thunder fans criticized the most (Perkins/Brooks) might have something to do with that lack of effort

Jeff Green has been underwelming, trading him is nowhere near as damning as trading Harden

Plus why do people act like OKC is the only franchise that's "stolen a team" before lol

Perkins wasn't the answer
They could've gotten more for Green. It was a bad trade all the way around.
The owners wanted to bring a team to OKC knowing at best they would break even. It hasn't been about winning for them. They just happened to inherit 2 superstars and ended up letting a star player walk. I can respect that. That franchise hasn't earned anything and if Durant leaves they will be TWolves status for a long time. No free agents will want to play in that city.

And I forgot they fired the coach who actually help make them what they are.

 

[Floyd Pinkerton]

Clippers forward Jeff Green started in place of Luc Mbah a Moute and played 17 scoreless minutes.

 

[The War Report]

They become too predictable instead of running their offense. Westbrook is 2nd in usage %, so he has to take a big portion of the blame.

 

[Panther]

Donovan is just collecting a check.

Too much iso by KD/Russ... But who else are they supposed to pass to in those situations

 

[Ziggiy]

I fell asleep start of the 4th like We got this...

Woke up to Mike and Mike show like wtf?

Man, shyt blew my morning... we fold off big leads like its nothing

Real talk Breh. Same EXACT THING happened to me. Fell asleep like "Game Over" and woke up to Sports Center talking about Clippers come back


I'm telling y'all I think it's due to simple fatigue. Westbrook and Durant ARE the team at this point. Westbrook in particular I think is getting gassed

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

They become too predictable instead of running their offense. Westbrook is 2nd in usage %, so he has to take a big portion of the blame.

His time of possession decreases significantly down the stretch, and Durant's increases. Not to mention Durant has a higher USG% than Westbrook does in the clutch.

 

[Alexander The Great]

 

[OneManGang]

His time of possession decreases significantly down the stretch, and Durant's increases. Not to mention Durant has a higher USG% than Westbrook does in the clutch.

This is a problem in itself. When defenses clamp up late in games, Russ is so much less effective. It puts the burden of scoring on Durant. And he can't out score good teams on his own. Russ has no dependable outside shot and is turnover prone with bad decision making in the clutch at times. Recipe for disaster when you have no other scoring options.