OKC Thunder Not Using Injuries as an Excuse

Oklahoma City is focused solely on the team available each night.

December 13, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (left) and guard Alex Caruso (right) sit during practice prior to the Emirates NBA Cup semi-finals at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Oklahoma City fell flat against Milwaukee in the NBA Cup championship game. It’s certainly not the end of the world, as it was a midseason game that didn’t even count in the loss column, but it was unfortunate for the Thunder to go ice cold on national television. It was very apparent one player on the Thunder’s bench could’ve helped tremendously, but honestly, that’s the case in every game moving forward.

It’s not rocket science to suggest Oklahoma City is world’s better with Chet Holmgren available. Even though the team is pretty darn good without him, the full potential relies on his health in the playoffs. We have yet to see Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein play together, and by the looks of it, that could be a lethal duo down the stretch.

Even Jaylin Williams, who is still sidelined, would really help this Thunder team on nights like Tuesday. Against a massive Milwaukee team, another big man would’ve made a huge difference. But Oklahoma City isn’t making any excuses. They are fully capable with the current group of healthy guys, and simply didn’t play to the standard in the championship game.

“I love Chet,” Mark Daigneault said. “I wish he was available. I wish he wasn't hurt. But I'm very present in the games.”

Oklahoma City is missing 16.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and 37.8% 3-point shooting in Holmgren’s absence. The team has shown it’s still one of the NBA’s elite even without him, though. The main issue on Tuesday night wasn’t the rebounding, it was simply missing makable shots. No matter who’s healthy, 5-of-32 from the 3-point line is never going to cut it.

The Thunder will need to focus on team defense to make up for the loss of front court depth and continue to take open shots — they’ll fall at some point. For now, though, Oklahoma City is focused on controlling the controllable. This team is capable, and injury excuses won’t be used by anyone in the organization.

“At the end of the day, in these types of situations, you're playing your strengths against their strengths, and their strengths were stronger than ours tonight,” Daigneault said. “But when we lose a game, we've proven that we can beat anybody with our strengths, so we're going to tap back into that. We're not going to daydream about what our vulnerabilities are or what the other team's strengths are. 

“We're just trying to double down on the things we do well, which has been good enough in a lot of situations, so we've just got to learn from it, figure out how to attack it. Like I said, we play these guys two more times, so we'll be able to test ourselves again.”

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