Iced out

The Thunder have one of their coldest nights ever, and Giannis is re-coronated.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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The Field of Waterloo; J.M.W. Turner; 1818

The Thunder haven’t won anything in the strict, traditionalist sense of the word. They were No. 1 seeds a year ago and blasted the Pelicans over an uncompetitive series. But Dallas knocked them out en route to a Finals appearance; this iteration of the Thunder have won fewer playoff games that the Trae Young-John Collins Hawks.

The Thunder do sit as the reigning (and defending) No. 1 seed, the clear best team in a clearly stacked Western Conference, and a franchise 28 others would trade asset and roster situations with in a heartbeat. (San Antonio may take a few more heartbeats.) There’s a non-zero chance they can be the Team of the 2020s (if they can usurp the Celtics and win multiple titles over the next five years) and are young enough to appear set up to start the 2030s strong. Things happen, fortunes fade, new planets rise. Nothing tomorrow is guaranteed today. But if you had to choose a seat from which to proceed through the near future, you’d pick theirs.

So it’s of particularly interest when in a game with stakes, albeit manufactured, the Thunder failed so spectacuarly.

OKC shot 5/32 from deep, not much better on twos and lost the NBA Cup title game by 16 to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Thunder scored 81 in this game; they’ve scored fewer than that total three times in the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander era. Yes, one of those was the infamous 73-point loss to Memphis in 2021. This wasn’t quite that bad, though the Bucks opened up a 20-point lead in the closing minutes; it felt like an insult. Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson, gentlemen they are, were almost coaxing OKC to hit a few shots. The Thunder did not oblige.

What can you take from that? Does this failure indicate anything about the roster, or the future playoffs? Was the night so cold that you chalk it up to the fact that anything can happen in a single game, and championships are never really decided by one game, even when they are? Does it healthily reset expectations for the postseason, perhaps reduce the pressure to make the Finals or win the championship? Will progress now be enough?