The Oklahoma City Thunder stand outside of the playoff picture this morning, but of course, there’s a lot of NBA season left to be played. After last night’s loss to the Sacramento Kings, the Thunder have dropped three games in a row and four of their last six games overall. Yet there’s little reason to panic in the mind of defending Kia MVP Russell Westbrook.
* Recap: Kings 94, Thunder 86
Westbrook had a solid showing stats-wise against the Kings, finishing with 20 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals. The rest of the Thunder didn’t fare as well and for that, Westbrook took the blame and vowed to get his team on track quickly, writes Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman:
You expected Russell Westbrook to say some things.
The Thunder’s rocky start had gotten rockier still Tuesday at the Golden 1 Center, where Oklahoma City lost 94-86 to the Kings, and you knew that its fiery point guard would have something to say.
You probably did not expect his postgame comments to include this nugget: “I love nights like this.”
…
“It does nothing but bring you closer, as a unit, as brothers,” Westbrook said. “I’m encouraged by the group of guys we have in that (locker) room, and I will be better. I take ownership of how we’re playing, and I will be better. We will be better, so I’m not worried.”
…
It’s an ugly loss. But it’s one. There have been five others and there will be more.
“It sucks to drop games like this,” Paul George said. “When we look back down the road in March and April and we look at these losses and we’ll be pretty sick about it. But this is not when we want to be playing our best basketball, with that being said.”
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