The Oklahoma City Thunder had a tough week, resulting in a drop in multiple NBA Power Rankings.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have not gotten off to the start that they had hoped for this season. With reigning MVP Russell Westbrook already in place, general manager Sam Presti made some power moves this offseason to bring in talent around him.
Presti pulled off two unexpected trades, landing superstars Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. With George and Anthony alongside Westbrook, the Thunder had put together a legitimate Big Three to contend in the loaded Western Conference. Unfortunately, things have not gotten off to a great start.
The ninth-place Thunder have played inconsistently. They look great for a handful of games and then putrid quickly after. It has resulted in a record of 8-11 thus far on the season, as they are currently on the outside looking in on the Western Conference playoff picture.
This past week, we saw just how good the Thunder can be when things are clicking. They had their most important game of the season thus far as they hosted the Golden State Warriors for the first of four matchups this season.
The Warriors have owned the Thunder in recent history. Last season, the first with Kevin Durant in Golden State after leaving Oklahoma City, the Warriors had four blowout victories. The closest the Thunder came to the Warriors last season was a 16-point loss, which happened twice.
The Thunder were determined to not let that happen this season. In their first matchup, the Thunder were the ones blowing out the Warriors, defeating them 108-91. The Big Three of Westbrook, George and Anthony scored 76 combined points. The Warriors couldn’t keep up as the Thunder fed off the home crowd.
It was the type of game that could help get a team that was struggling on track. The Thunder went into the matchup against the Warriors on a two-game losing streak. They lost games on the road against the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans before defeating the Warriors.
With a momentous victory, Oklahoma City looked like they were going to turn a corner. Instead, it looked like they used all their energy and effort against the Warriors.
Following that victory, the Thunder lost to the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. The Thunder’s late-game struggles once again reared their ugly head, as their record in games decided by eight points or fewer dropped to 0-9 on the season.
While the loss was disappointing, it wasn’t even their worst one of the week. The Thunder followed up the loss to the Pistons with a no-show against the lowly Dallas Mavericks on the second night of their back-to-back.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder not only struggled to build momentum off the victory over the Warriors, they took a big step backward. As a result, the Thunder also slipped down multiple NBA Power Rankings this week.
Over at ESPN, the Thunder dropped from the No. 12 spot in the rankings to No. 15 this week. Vincent Johnson’s breakdown paints a bleak picture for the Thunder’s drop in the rankings:
"“The Thunder snapped a seven-game head-to-head losing streak against the Warriors, but have since lost two straight — one perpetuating their clutch time failures this season in a loss to the Pistons and their worst loss of the season by 16 points to a Mavericks team that entered tied for the second-worst record in the league. Oklahoma City is 0-9 in games decided by eight points or fewer and 0-8 in road games against the West.”"
Over at CBS Sports, the Thunder also saw a drop of two spots in the power rankings. This is also the lowest Oklahoma City is ranked, as they dropped to the 20 spot.
"“The Thunder have the second-best defense in the NBA. They have the sixth-best net rating. They just blew out the Warriors. Why are they this low? Because they let the Mavericks blow them out and have lost four of five. How can a good team be this bad?”"
The Thunder’s highest ranking is at NBA.com. Oklahoma City is ranked No. 14 in NBA this week, but they also saw the biggest drop in the rankings there as well. The Thunder dropped four spots this week on NBA.com. Here is part of what they said about the Thunder’s week.
"“The Thunder seemingly put it all together in Wednesday’s win over the champs, holding the league’s best offense under 90 points per 100 possessions. And then they blew a 15-point, second-half lead to Detroit on Friday and couldn’t make a shot in Dallas on Saturday. They’ve lost four of their last five games overall and six straight on the road.”"
Things are not going well for the Thunder right now, judging by their record. However, as it pointed out in some of the blurbs, the Thunder own one of the best defenses in the NBA.
Next: 2017-18 Week 7 NBA Power Rankings
That is something to build off of, as a team can always win games as long as they are bringing it defensively. It is only 19 games into the season, so there is still some time to figure things out. Just how long Billy Donovan can afford to wait before making changes is something that will be tested in the coming weeks of things don’t begin improving sooner than later.