The Thunder returned to work on Saturday, going through the intensity of a full practice for only the second time since the Feb. 19 NBA trade deadline that brought four new players in to the program.
Sure, there have been shoot-arounds during that stretch that included eight games. But between travel, recovery days, film days and the other necessities that take place during the course of the season, Head Coach Scott Brooks was eager to get his group in the film room and, just as important, the practice floor Saturday at the INTEGRIS Thunder Development Center.
For the Thunder, this is a key stretch in the 82-game grind that is the NBA schedule. The team is home for eight of its next nine games, beginning Sunday night when it takes on the Toronto Raptors. Game time is 6 p.m. at Chesapeake Energy Arena and will air live on FOX Sports Oklahoma and the 12-station Thunder Radio Network.
"On a lot of fronts, it's really a good time for us," Brooks said of the extended home stay. "We get to practice. You know, we haven't had many practices throughout the year and this is our second practice with the new group of guys. They have to get familiar with our building, familiar with the city, so this gives them an opportunity to settle down a little bit."
In addition to continuing to integrate newcomers Enes Kanter, Kyle Singler, D.J. Augustin and Steve Novak into the system, the Thunder also is getting closer to seeing second-year center Steven Adams return to the lineup. Adams practiced again Saturday -- "He didn't do every rep, but most of practice," Brooks said -- though his status for Sunday remains unknown.
"I have to wait and see how I feel tomorrow," said Adams, who has been sidelined with a fourth metacarpal fracture on his right hand since Feb. 8. "I went through practice today and it seems to be doing well, but I could wake up and it not be right. We'll have to see how it goes."
Brooks described Saturday's practice as "really good," triggered by a productive film session that set the tone.
"We had to clean up some things. Our defense hasn't been up to par," he said. "We take a lot of pride in the defensive end, but we've given up too many points in the last few games by just relaxing and not locking in defensively and just trying to make it a scoring game. We can score with a lot of teams in this league, but we want to make sure that when we do score, we're scoring off a defensive mentality.
"We want to continue to build our habits and get back to the basics of defend the ball, defend the pick-and-roll, keep the ball out of the paint and make sure we're boxing out and rebounding the basketball."
The fact the Thunder is playing in front of its 18,203 faithful at Chesapeake Energy Arena certainly will help in that mission.
"We take a lot of pride in our home court," he said. "We have great fans, great support and they come out every night no matter what the situation is.
"Our guys know we have a great place to play. It doesn't guarantee a win, but it puts us in a position to win every night, our crowd. There's been a handful of games this year where we weren't as sharp as we want to be, but our crowd picked us up going into that second half and going into the fourth quarter. It's important for us to establish a good home court."
Added swingman Anthony Morrow: "I love playing at home. Great energy, great crowd....We're looking forward to this stretch of home games. We've got to take advantage of this opportunity."