SGA opens up amid Thunder cracks: “We’ve lost big... Some nights are going to be bad”

Oklahoma City, the defending NBA champions, have been learning all about the phrase uttered by Dr. Dre in Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly opening song, Wesley’s Theory: “But remember, anybody can get it, the hard part is keepin’ it, motherf*cker.” With such sound advice, you can see how he earned a doctorate.

After, ahem, thundering their way to an NBA championship last year, the side find themselves in what I’d call a wobble.

The young team looked unstoppable early, racing to a 24-1 record and briefly sparking talk of one of the best starts in league history. That lightning pace, though, has slowed down, and the Thunder have gone 6-6 in their most recent stretch of games, including tough losses against Phoenix and a surprising 27-point defeat at the hands of the Charlotte Hornets.

Worry “comes with the territory” of life at the top

“There’s a lot of games left in the season,” team star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reassured. “We’ve won big. We’ve lost big. Some nights are going to be bad. Some nights are going to be great. But regardless, you have to try to get better the next day. I think that’s what allows you to, I guess you can say, be resilient. It’s hard, obviously, but the best teams do it, and that’s who we’re trying to be.”

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault had wise words after the game: “When you win the championship and you start the way we started, it comes with the territory. I think it gives you a unique opportunity to really improve through that. ... It’s a competitive privilege to be a team that other teams are up to play for.”

Losing “forces you to rise,” he added. “And if you can, you really can get better and stronger as a result of that. And if you don’t, you learn the lesson. So we got to learn the lessons in these ones.”

For a squad with double championship aspirations, this run feels less like a full-blown crisis and more like a ‘turn machine off and on’, as they sit on a wave upon which every team at the top must ride.

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