The Thunder surge back with five straight wins, silencing doubts and reclaiming their league-leading streak with dominant performances.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are back.
After losing back to back games to the Phoenix Suns and Charlotte Hornets, the Thunder have rattled off five straight wins. Most importantly, the defending champs responded to the their season-worst stretch of games with their best back to back wins of the season.
OKC finally knocked off their supposed kryptonite, otherwise known as the San Antonio Spurs, with an emphatic 119-98 win at The Paycom Center. Two nights later, the Thunder traveled to Houston and handed Kevin Durant and the Rockets a 111-91 shellacking.
All of a sudden, the Thunder once again own the longest win streak in the league. They're tied with the Los Angeles Clippers for the best record in their last 10 games at 8-2. And Mark Daigneault's squad took down two Texas teams considered Western Conference contenders consecutively by 21 points and 20 points.
So how did OKC right the ship, get the car back on the road and any other vehicle related course correction idiom?
"Just sticking with it. Like I said, when you lose, everyone acts like the ceiling is caving in and the sky is falling. And you know, 'Sell the team." I don't think anybody was saying that [laughs]. But you know, that's what it feels like," Chet Holmgren said after the Rockets win when asked about the ups and downs of the season. "When you lose, everything is nitpicked. Everything is under a microscope. You can't lose sight of who you are and what you do and how to do those things. When you're going through those times you at times have to survive so that then you can thrive. It's not like we're in the clear and we're past all of that forever. It's the NBA. Teams are good, schedules are tough. This is basketball, but there's also life. You just have to stay steady. Understand that hard times, bad games are going to happen. You have to continue to stick with it."
Oklahoma City fans, you can take your finger off the panic button.
Every other NBA team fan, you can take your finger off the celebration button.
The Thunder are back.
Now, whether or not the Thunder ever left is a whole other discussion. At the very least, OKC went through a multi-week slump compared to the impossibly high standard they have set for themselves. But it looks like that slight stumble is now in the rear view mirror.