Don’t look now, but the Oklahoma City Thunder just might be pulling things together. They have a signature win this season, a home victory over the Western Conference-leading Houston Rockets on Christmas Day, and have rattled off five wins in a row to get themselves to a 19-15 record, good enough for fifth in the Western Conference.
OKC’s 112-107 win over the Rockets came with an important performance down the stretch, with a Russell Westbrook steal setting up an Andre Roberson layup to seal the win.
Everyone is looking intently at what the Thunder do in a near-daily basis, the scrutiny focused on whether a team with three stars like Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George can get it together in time for the Thunder to invest further in the trio past this season. The clock is ticking, and though everyone involved has pleaded for patience and time, as the season neared the midpoint and the Thunder hovered just above .500, the questions grew louder.
But Paul George argues the team has at least figured out one part of its game: closing. The Thunder started the season with a ghastly record in close games, struggling mightily on offense late in tight contests, but they’ve begun turning that around and George knows why.
“There’s no confusion,” George told ESPN’s Royce Young about Oklahoma City’s improvement in the clutch. “We’re just playing. We trust one another. We’re on the same page with one another. We just figured it out, how to close, how to play well, how to tighten up. We’re just comfortable, I think. That’s what took a little time, is the comfort level.”
That composure is important, sure, but now the quest for the Thunder is to find some consistency. Every team needs time to find itself, especially when so many major changes were brought on over the offseason. But the competition the Thunder will face in the West this postseason will have their own superteam ready to go. Still, beating the Rockets in the regular season is a huge step in the right direction, even without Chris Paul in the lineup.
