Thunder’s secret not weird science, but chemistry
The All-Star Break is nearly here, and Oklahoma City’s up-start NBA team is still in the thick of the chase for a playoff spot.
Whodathunk it?
It seemed unlikely when the season began, but here the Thunder is, proving that it belongs despite being such a young team, showing this isn’t some sort of fluke by hanging with just about every team it plays.
How did this team come so far so fast?
The easy answer is that the players are performing. Points are coming in bunches from Kevin Durant, but other guys are helping carry the scoring load, too. Same goes for rebounds and blocks and defense and every other area of the game. Everyone is bringing something to the table.
Which brings us to the fact that there’s more to this team’s success than players performing. These guys are playing together. They’re playing for each other.
That doesn’t always happen in the NBA.
Consider this — Monday night, Kevin Durant made the trip to Stillwater to watch his alma mater, Texas, play Oklahoma State. He wasn’t alone, though. He brought along Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green, James Harden, D.J. White and Kyle Weaver.
That kind of thing just doesn’t happen in pro sports, so many guys hanging out after hours like that. These guys do it all the time, yet it’s so rare, so unexpected that if you saw it in a movie, you’d think it was made-up. You’d say it was cheesy. You’d laugh that it was phony.
But there’s nothing phony about this team’s chemistry. It’s genuine. And that is helping this team play better than its talent should allow. These guys are playing hard, playing inspired, playing together in a way that other teams envy.
It’s something special, Oklahoma City. It’s something that could take the Thunder all the way to the playoffs.
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I think this is one of those rare instances where we got a perfect storm of the right things. KD should get a lot of credit but his teammates deserve credit too for keeping their egos in check. These guys got the opportunity to set the OKC tradition. So far the are doing great.