THE RAFTERS IN the Paycom Center in downtown Oklahoma City are somewhat sparse. The hometown Thunder have collected a handful of division titles and there is that prized 2012 Western Conference finals win commemorated up there, however the previous Seattle TremendousSonics championship historical past was left behind in the course of the relocation 16 years in the past and the reborn franchise continues to be working by itself.
That made Tuesday evening a particular alternative, a younger Thunder group attempting to determine itself had an opportunity at elevating one other one by profitable the NBA Cup in Las Vegas. It did not occur. The Thunder had their worst offensive evening of the season at an inconvenient time and the Milwaukee Bucks acquired the {hardware}, the bonus cash and the appropriate to lift a pennant of their rafters with a 16-point win.
The result’s emblematic of the Thunder’s ongoing battle to win some respect, one thing they do not demand virtually as a group rule. But it is one thing they’re very a lot attempting to earn, residing via the ups and downs of the method alongside the best way.
For greater than 15 years, courting again to a hype video with the cheerleaders and mascot that used to open their native broadcasts of their first seasons in Oklahoma, the Thunder have used the identical rallying cry.
#ThunderUp.
It’s a superbly fantastic and helpful little slogan however, like something born within the 2000s, it might use some updating. The present model of the Thunder has in all probability earned a special one. Perhaps a phrase their coach, Mark Daigneault, unwittingly branded them with throughout their NBA Cup run could be extra applicable.
Two weeks in the past, with level differential changing into an element within the Thunder’s last group play recreation and going through a potential tiebreaker scenario to make sure advancing, Daigneault put his starters on the bench to begin the fourth quarter as a result of he had a 20-point lead over the Utah Jazz. He refused to run up the rating.
“You acquired the angel and satan in your shoulder,” Daigneault defined. “But we’re going with the angel.”
#GoingWithTheAngel. It does not sound all that menacing however, nicely, it is how the Thunder really roll.
“There’s a sure grace you win with,” Daigneault, the reigning NBA Coach of the Year, stated.
#WinningWithGrace? That one just isn’t going to set T-shirt gross sales information, both, however the Thunder typically do win with grace.
Last season they had been among the best tales of the NBA, surpassing any and all expectations with a 57-win marketing campaign that stunningly earned them the No. 1 seed in what was a traditionally aggressive Western Conference.
Now greater than 1 / 4 of the best way into this season, they as soon as once more have the West’s finest document (20-5). It’s pushed by the league’s No. 1 protection, which they personal by a relative mile, and the perfect internet score, which they personal by a relative mile too.
They stay ESPN BET’s favourite to win the West, a place they’ve held because the summer season, and ESPN additionally ranked them No. 1 in its recent Future Power Rankings, which tasks all 30 franchises’ outlook over the subsequent three seasons.
In quick, the Thunder are loaded. But due to their low-key nature as a group, together with their head coach and famous person, and their small market, they are not all the time regarded or handled as such. And it reveals within the information and the schedule.
TWO HOT-BUTTON subjects across the Thunder that underscore this are the foul calls they get (or do not) and their off day on Dec. 25. Ten groups had been chosen to play on Christmas, the annual five-game showcase of the perfect, brightest and hottest. The Thunder had been left off.
“I do not suppose it is a private concern as a result of we have performed on Christmas 9 instances,” Thunder president Sam Presti stated after the schedule was revealed. “We need to earn it … we have got to go on the market and present them we’re succesful.”
Presti, who has run the group since 2007, is understood for his culture-setting. As a franchise tenet, the Thunder preach humility, appear to actively keep away from consideration, and by league requirements do not speak that a lot trash.
“We’re a younger group and a number of instances within the league it’s a must to earn your stripes, you actually do not get given something,” stated guard Alex Caruso. “For us, it is not about how loud you’re. It’s about getting the job accomplished.”
But about these fouls. After a mid-November recreation in opposition to the Phoenix Suns, Daigneault sat on the postgame lectern and, with little prompting, unloaded a torrent of superior statistics. He listed the variety of drives per recreation his group makes, their foul fee and the place they rank within the league and the proportion of time OKC spends within the bonus in comparison with their opponents.
The prolonged however well mannered diatribe was an try and show how the Thunder, of their opinion, are underrepresented on the foul line. And, in his personal method, Daigneault had had sufficient.
They’d received by 16 factors that evening however the Suns had taken 22 extra free throws and Daigneault needed to make use of the second to stipulate the discrepancy.
Such pleas, or rants, are considerably frequent throughout the league. Just that week, the NBA handed out 4 fines for gamers’ and coaches’ actions directed at referee calls … however none to Daigneault. Why? Because, nicely, he’d merely said info and accomplished so with out venom.
This is not stunning. Since Daigneault grew to become Thunder coach in 2020 no member of the Thunder has been fined for complaining about officers. In that span, the league has issued greater than 60 fines for phrases or actions protesting officiating. It definitely is not uncommon.
“I believed the ultimate play was the ref blowing a name!” steamed Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers the day after Daigneault’s managed burn. Rivers was pissed off after a controversial loss to the Charlotte Hornets and earned himself a $25,000 fantastic.
In the historical past of the Thunder group, courting to their relocation from Seattle in 2008, group information present solely three league fines for reacting to referees. In the subsequent recreation after Daigneault’s “rant,” in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks, the development continued. The Thunder took 11 fewer free throws than the Mavs.
“If I’m going to handle the officers, which I do not do fairly often … then I’m going to guarantee that I’ve credibility and integrity,” Daigneault stated. “If I handle officiating sooner or later, it’s going to be fact-based.”
Still, officiating is a nuanced, typically subjective subject that, naturally, generally drives the coach somewhat loopy. But not too loopy, thoughts you. Now in his fifth season as coach, Daigneault has been referred to as for fewer than 10 technical fouls. So far this 12 months, he is tied for 14th amongst coaches with one.
But whereas there could also be a dialogue available about how the Thunder are officiated, on one hand, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is third within the NBA in free throws per recreation with eight. On the opposite, the Thunder lead the NBA in drives per recreation as a group, with just below 60, and but rank twenty ninth in free throws per recreation.
On this matter, if he is selecting between the angel and satan, Gilgeous-Alexander goes with the previous.
“There’s so many issues occurring on the market, the very last thing I’m anxious about is whether or not I’m going to get a name,” Gilgeous-Alexander stated earlier this season. “If I really feel like I get fouled, I’ll allow them to know in a pleasant method. Hopefully they’ll respect that and look out for it on the subsequent play.”
Gilgeous-Alexander, by the best way, has no technical fouls this season. He has three technical fouls since becoming a member of the Thunder in 2019.
On protection, the Thunder problem virtually each go and shot and rank No. 1 in steals per recreation and No. 4 in blocks per recreation — an aggressive, bodily type that lends itself to fouls. But Jalen Williams is a longtime 20-points-per-game scorer, drives a mean of 12 instances per recreation, and will get, on common, about one foul name on drives per recreation. Williams has been referred to as for one technical this 12 months.
As a group the Thunder have been referred to as for simply 4 technical fouls all season. During Diagneault’s tenure, the Thunder’s information present they’ve been referred to as for a complete of 44 unsportsmanlike technical fouls. The subsequent closest group in that span, since 2020, is the San Antonio Spurs with greater than 60. The LA Clippers are third with greater than 100.
That’s some #Grace proper there.
The Houston Rockets, on the different finish of the spectrum, have been referred to as for a league-high 24 technicals this season. Not to attract conclusions and contemplating all the mandatory nuances, the Rockets are fifth within the league in free throws per recreation.
Though it should be stated the Thunder took seven extra free throws than the Rockets within the NBA Cup semifinals final Saturday. And within the Final on Tuesday in opposition to the Bucks, they had been hit with a whopping three technical fouls, although the sport does not rely within the NBA stats database and technically will not blemish their long-standing historical past of fine habits.
“[The referees] did an excellent job,” Daigneault stated after the sport. “We did not lose due to the refs.”
PRESTI CONSTRUCTED THIS powerhouse roster in an environment friendly three-year rebuild. It’s plain to see the kind of gamers he likes: His draft picks and commerce targets are typically long-armed, defense-first and multi-positional. But there’s additionally a personality kind as nicely.
Before coming to the franchise in 2007, Presti was raised within the San Antonio Spurs setting, the place Hall of Fame coach and president Gregg Popovich most popular buying gamers who had a humorousness, loved lengthy team-building dinners and who’ve “gotten over themselves.”
The gamers Presti has stocked this group with largely share in all these traits. Gilgeous-Alexander clothes to kill and was the MVP runner-up final season, however clearly shares his character with teammates just like the soft-spoken however massively precious Williams, and massive man Chet Holmgren, who performs with a excessive degree of competitiveness however typically shies away from speaking about himself.
Famously, the Thunder do postgame TV interviews in a gaggle, to each share the credit score and to guard one another from maybe any edgy, rapid postgame feedback.
The impact of all that within the trendy NBA, the place consideration is forex, is that in the intervening time, the Thunder will seemingly stay at or close to the highest of the standings however maybe not all the time be handled as such.
Which is the place their actual motto ought to come from. “There’s no silver platters in Oklahoma,” Presti stated. “We, as a corporation and group, need to earn our arrival.”
#NoSilverPlatters has a hoop to it.
