Thunder Journal: This is Fine.
Contact us to sponsor Daily Thunder’s game day coverage.
Who wants to read 1,000 words on the complexities and nuance of the Rockets raining down a franchise record number of 3s on the Thunder? Yeah, I didn’t think so. I had no desire to wax poetic about Houston’s entire roster turning into prime Theo Maledon, either.
Up until the last two Thunder throttlings, Mark Daigneault’s team of tots had been one of the league’s biggest surprise stories of the 2021 season. OKC was 8-9, just a game out of the #8 spot and exceeding all tank fueled expectations. Some fans had given up hope for Cade, Evan and Jalen and began planning for the play-in.
But over the past few days, Tankathon.com has been bombarded with IP addresses originating from the 405 and 918 area codes. So what happened? Let us count the L’s.
The Harden-less Rockets beat the Thunder by 30 in OKC’s last game.
The Harden-led Nets beat the Thunder by 22 in the game prior.
George Hill is out for a month.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a left knee sprain and is out for at least the Rockets rematch tonight.
Poku said his goodbyes to Rumble the Bison and said his hellos to Mickey the Mouse.
You ready for the good news?
Here’s the 8-11 Thunder’s upcoming schedule:
Houston, who happens to have the NBA’s longest win streak with six straight victories.
OKC then has two winnable games against the Timberwolves, but Karl Anthony Towns may be recovered from his bout with COVID.
The remaining portion of OKC’s first half schedule is basically playing the last level of Ninja Gaiden on the hard setting 14 times in a row: Lakers road double header, Nuggets, Bucks, Blazers, Grizzlies, Bucks, Cavaliers, Heat, Spurs, Hawks, Nuggets, Mavericks, Spurs.
In case you missed it, that website again was Tankathon.com.
Despite the upcoming barrage of losses, I still love watching this Thunder team play. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is consistently excellent, scores with ease, always makes the right basketball play and provides playoff hope for the next decade nightly. We’ve witnessed Lu Dort transform from a defensive caterpillar into a beautiful 3&D butterfly before our very eyes. Al Horford and George Hill provide steady veteran future 1st round picks play. Theo Maledon has emerged from the 2nd round rubble and played more like the 17th overall pick, while the 17th overall pick has been a roller coaster ride so exciting they had to send him to Disney World. Darius Bazley has bounced back after a mid-first-half-of-the-season slump. Hamidou Diallo went from dunk champ with a broke shot and even broker shot selection to legitimate high energy, efficient 6th man sparkplug. Isaiah Roby was a cut candidate, now he’s a double double.
The Thunder aren’t going to win a lot of games this season. But the future is bright not only because of the young talent OKC will draft as a result of these losses, but also because of the young talent already on the roster who are developing and growing every night as a result of these losses.
Keep that in mind tonight after the Rockets hit their 30th three pointer.
