The Informer’s 50 NBA Blogs In 50 Nights Day 11: What Happened To The Oklahoma City Thunder?

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WOW!!! UNREAL!!! VERY LOUD CURSE WORDS!!!



As you can tell, The Informer is not really sure which words best describes how he feels about the Memphis Grizzlies stunning Game 5 100-99 overtime victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Maybe the word should be scared, considering The Informer’s pick to represent the Western Conference in the 2014 NBA Finals is now one loss away from going fishing for the summer.

(The Informer note – Before we continue with this long winded rant trying to figure out what is wrong with the Thunder, The Informer wants to take a second and give the Grizzlies some credit. For four straight games they have played their game their way, executed their offense and they have come away with victories three out of the four times. The Grizzlies are winning these games just as much as OKC is losing them.)

Needless to say, after watching every game of this series The Informer is absolutely baffled by what is going on with OKC.

I mean: What in the hell has happened to Kevin Durant? Why has he turned into a worse version of Tayshaun Prince? And How come OKC has stopped running an offense, instead deciding to rely strictly on isolation jump shots? What happened to the team in the regular season that drove the ball, found the open man, and knocked down open shots? Most importantly: Why have the Thunder started four straight games with zero energy, emotion or sense of urgency? Don’t they realize this is the 2014 NBA Playoffs?

Did you know that last night was the second time in this series OKC has found themselves down by 20 points in the third quarter? Seriously, how is that possible? One of the best offensive teams in the NBA is getting run off the court by the normally offensive challenged Memphis Grizzlies. Please, someone, explain how this makes any sense.

The Informer honestly has no answers. This isn’t like last year when it was Durant versus the world. No this year the Thunder are at full strength, with Russell Westbrook doing Russell Westbrook things (Including an incredible triple-double in Game 5) and yet OKC still has no answer for the Grizzlies defense.

Watching this series it almost seems like OKC is going into these games thinking they are going to win because they are the Thunder, so they coast for the first 2 ½ quarters trying to get by on their “Good-Looks” (jump shots/lazy defense) before realizing that they are getting run out of the building. Then just as the game appears out of hand, OKC kicks it into high gear and tries to crawl their way back into the game.

My question is: Why are they waiting to kick it into a higher gear? Why not start the game with the same intensity they have for their comebacks? The weird part about the lack of intensity is the Thunder have been to the NBA Finals before, so they should know what kind of effort is needed to win in the playoffs. And yet, they are not giving that effort on a night to night basis.

The good news, even with their lack of energy, it is still not time to panic. The Informer has been saying it all series and it is still holds true now; Oklahoma City is the better team. They just need to play with energy for four quarters instead of waiting until midway through the third when they are down by twenty.

Also, the one positive for the Thunder heading into Game 6 is that we have seen the Grizzlies ceiling. They do not have any more gears. This is the team you are going to get in Game 6. As for OKC, we have yet to see their best game which means they still have an extra gear to kick in. And if The Informer were a betting man, his money would be on seeing that extra gear in Game 6.

Like The Informer said the other day; every championship team faces adversity. Well, this Thunder team is facing their adversity a little sooner than expected, but at least they still have time to answer the challenge. They just need to get back to playing their game.

In other words, it is time for KD and his teammates to “Thunder-Up”.