Despite the disappointment of Monday night’s loss in Denver to the Nuggets, Thunder players and coaches realize they’re still in a good spot.
Ahead in the series three games to one and coming home is not a bad place to be.
“Trust me, we didn’t go into this series thinking we were going to sweep this series,” Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks said. “We knew that every game was going to be tough.”
“If you look back, that probably wasn’t one of our better games,” Brooks admitted to reporters on Tuesday. "Like I tell our guys, 'hey, we got beat.' You learn from it, you address the issues that need to be addressed, you look at film and you move on.”
That feeling was echoed by Thunder forward Kevin Durant, “We have some things to work on as a team and so do I. (Danilo) Gallinari got some open looks and made some tough shots. We’ve got to try and do a better job on that this coming game and that’s all on me, I have to do a better job of guarding him.”
Still Oklahoma City is one victory away from earning its first series win in the NBA Playoffs.
“In every playoff game you want to give yourself a chance to win and we’ve done that four times this series,” Brooks said, “and we've won three of them. So I’m happy, I’m happy with the way we are right now, with the way we are as a group, as a team and we’re really excited about the opportunity to play in front of our crowd (Wednesday) night.”
Arriving back in Oklahoma City early Tuesday morning the team waited until the afternoon to hit the practice floor and Brooks and the coaches kept the work to a minimum to make sure the team is able to stay fresh.
“We just met, talked over a few things and then we shot free throws,” he said.
One thing that was discussed was the Nuggets' ability Monday night to get critical offensive rebounds and then find an open man for a 3-point shot.
“Yeah we talked about that a lot,” Brooks said, “We’ve done a good job of taking their offensive rebounds out of the game pretty much, but when they get those offensive rebounds and they end with threes, they hurt. Because you played good defense enough that they miss the first shot and then they get the rebound, throw it out to a 3-point shooter and make it. Those are tough possessions to get back.”
The Thunder will work on a few more tweaks Wednesday morning during shoot-around and then get ready for Game 5.
Tipoff Wednesday night is set for 8:30 p.m. inside the Oklahoma City Arena. You can watch all the action on Fox Sports Oklahoma or listen in on the Thunder Radio Network.