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Thunder are growing up, and that has been a difference-maker
- Updated: May 17, 2016
10:01 AM ET
OAKLAND, Calif. — It was early March and Kevin Durant was sitting with his head tilted down in front of his locker, rubbing the side of his face.
“They were disciplined, we weren’t,” Durant said. “We want to be a great team. We’re fooling ourselves. If we just want to be a great team, the way we’re playing, we’re fooling ourselves. We want to win a bunch of games in the regular season, that’s cool, but we’re fooling ourselves with the way we’re playing.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder had blown a 17-point fourth-quarter lead on the road to the Los Angeles Clippers, and it was rock bottom for their season. A few days before, Stephen Curry had hit the half-court shot heard ’round the world, stealing a game the Thunder led by four with 14 seconds remaining. It was a downward spiral they were trapped in, with lost leads, lapses in focus and plenty of questions. Opposing coaches around the league quietly echoed Durant’s assessment: The Thunder were too wild to be taken seriously.
Fast-forward two and a half months and here the Thunder sit, up 1-0 on the Golden State Warriors after an impressive 108-102 takedown in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Monday night. The Thunder trailed by as many as 14 and had to endure what appeared to be two back-breaking Curry 3s in the third quarter, one from near the half-court logo and another leaning on the wing that banked in. The Thunder didn’t blink. Instead, they dug in.
It has been a remarkable transformation for the Thunder, but one that has been accomplished through painstaking attention to detail and unwavering confidence. The Thunder teetered on the edge of their season falling apart, losing eight of 12 after the All-Star break, while also enduring several tragedies. (In a span of one month, assistant coach Monty Williams’ wife died in a car accident, minority owner Aubrey McClendon died and Dion Waiters’ brother was shot and killed in Philadelphia.) The team never used anything off the court as an excuse, but their play reflected it. This was a team with its mind somewhere else.
“They needed to go …
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