Thunder’s vets look to build momentum

BOSTON — It had been a good win, the sort that might boost morale.

The Thunder had gone into Toronto and beaten the red-hot Raptors on Sunday, ending an 11-game winning streak and giving the home team just its sixth loss of the season at Air Canada Centre.

It was a memorable afternoon, and a day later the Thunder was ready to forget it.

“It was a great battle, great opponent that we played,” forward Paul George said. “But we still got 10 more games left. We got to finish strong.”

Oklahoma City has a roster stocked with players who have been here before, who’ve fought for playoff seeds and advanced in postseason series, who have a sense of what it means to compete in March and April and beyond.

“We know what time of year it is,” guard Russell Westbrook said. “Now’s the time for us to turn up a notch and make sure that we’re doing everything that we need to do to be clicking on all cylinders

at the right time.”

There are signs the Thunder is doing just that.

In this season of starts and stops, of two steps forward and two back, it’s hard to declare Oklahoma City a team that’s turned the corner.

But the Thunder will enter Tuesday’s game at Boston on a six-game winning streak, third-longest in the NBA. Three of those wins — against the Spurs, Clippers and Raptors — came against teams in playoff contention.

Since it inserted newly acquired guard Corey Brewer into the starting lineup, OKC is scoring 114.6 points per 100 possessions and allowing 103. That difference of 11.7 points per 100 possessions is third best in the league over that six-game span.

The only teams with a better

net rating over the past six games are the Trail Blazers and Jazz, the only two teams with longer active winning streaks than the Thunder.

There still are some warning signs.

Toronto is the only playoff lock Oklahoma City has beaten during this six-game stretch. Three of its wins came at the expense of the lottery-bound Suns, Kings and Hawks.

Though it was a thriller, Sunday’s 132-125 win against the Raptors “certainly was not a defensive battle,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said, and he’d like continued improvement on that end.

There still are questions about Oklahoma City’s depth — its bench has been wildly inconsistent — and the sustainability of Brewer’s significant

offensive contributions.

Still, even with its flaws and its stretches of headscratching inconsistency, the Thunder is 35-17 since Dec. 1. Only the Raptors, Rockets and Warriors have been better.

And though that Thunder record was built in part with now-injured guard Andre Roberson on the roster, a new-look Oklahoma City appears to be gearing up as the season winds down.

That’s in part thanks to a roster rich in playoff experience.

“We’ve all been in this position,” George said. “Whether we’ve been No. 1, No. 2 or we’ve been a lower seed, we’ve all been in this position late in the season where teams are trying to work on seeding and get to specific

spots.”

Rotation players Westbrook, George, Brewer, Carmelo Anthony, Raymond Felton, Patrick Patterson and Steven Adams have played in a combined 377 playoff games. Each has played in at least 36.

Players who have been through that, Anthony said, understand “how important it is to have some type of momentum to close out the season.”

The Thunder has some. It wants to build on it.

“We’re still not where we want to be, but I think everyone in our locker (room) would say we love the direction we’re going and we know where we want to get to,” George said. “We’re confident that come late in the season, we’ll get there.”