Oklahoma City, under Mark Daigneault, has enjoyed some of the NBA’s best defenses, even turning in a historic unit a year ago on that side of the floor.
The Thunder check every box that basketball fans claim to crave. They are a throwback roster with a modern flair. OKC attacks every opponent each night, rarely ever taking nights off, so much so that a lack of effort against Charlotte was National News, while that is just another day in 29 other NBA markets.
As the Bricktown Ballers display what fans clamor for, physicality, competitive edge, crisp rotation, lock down defense and often times out-efforting and executing teams while being driven by a mid-range master who uses contact to bump defenders off their spots and tosses in improbable buckets routinely.
Though, this has awoken NBA fanbases envious that their favorite basketball club refuses to do the same and caused an epidemic. You can not scroll for two seconds on your favorite basketball discourse medium without seeing a rage baiting clip or think piece on how the Thunder playing an early 2000s style of play is bad for the league. Though, the hypocrisy shines through when scrolling two more seconds to see outcry over “new aged players not trying anymore.” A catch-22 of sorts.
Despite 29 fanbases living in emotion and feelings, no analytic or concrete evidence supports the idea that Oklahoma City “gets away” with too much physicality or that the league is rigging it for one of the smallest markets in professional sports.
On Thursday night, the Thunder downed the Houston Rockets 111-91 to earn their fifth straight victory. After the game, NBA legend and professional scorer Kevin Durant, who had to work for all 19 points on 30% shooting from the floor, was very outspoken on Oklahoma City’s defense.
“They play with physicality for sure, but that’s what championship organizations do. I don’t think they toethe line or anything,” Durant detailed. “I just think they just play swarming basketball; they all rush to the ball. They play physical off the ball. They got great hands. They got a good shot-blocking center. I don’t think they do too much, anything extra. I just think they play together and know how to swarm the basketball.”
This is a high compliment from one of the NBA’s best scorers of all time, the former Thunder forward didn’t make excuses, or tell a sob story or blame the refs, but just acknowledged how elite the Bricktown Ballers defense is.
If the biggest internet troll the league has ever seen can admit it, perhaps it can change the narrative around this Oklahoma City club.
