Thunder lacking urgency

Fans trickled out of Chesapeake Arena on Sunday, and who could blame them after another dismal performance? The November Thunder is back.

OKC trailed the Lakers by 10 points with 1:08 left in the game, a fourgame losing streak was imminent, and a team that seemingly 15 minutes ago was knocking on the door of third place was about to be closer to ninth (out of the playoffs) than fourth (homecourt advantage).

Then Russell Westbrook forced his way to a layup, Steven Adams stole a pass, Paul George dunked and then George stole another pass. Even after the momentum was squashed with an empty Thunder possession, George nailed a 3-pointer to get OKC within three points, and a Georgeled double team forced another Laker turnover, with 21 seconds left. But that call was overturned by replay and, eventually, the Lakers had a 108-104 victory.

Where was that energy the first 47 minutes? Where was the urgency?

The Thunder went 4-9

in November, a malaise written off to newness. What to blame on this slump? Andre Roberson’s injury is a good place to start. Roberson is far more valuable than anyone realized. But the Thunder has lost to the John Wall-less Wizards, the Paul Millsap-less Nuggets, the Boogie Cousins-less Pelicans and now the Lonzo Ball-less Lakers. Everybody has their troubles.

And one of the Thunder’s problems is an attitude of entitlement, that good things are going to happen without storming the gates.

“That last three minutes, we played desperate,” Billy Donovan said, expanding the time period a tad. “That last 3-4 minutes, we had incredible energy and desperation. I often think teams that play desperate are hard teams to play against.”

Conversely, teams that don’t play desperate are comparatively easy to play against. And the Thunder isn’t playing with the edge required in a league in which the margin of victory is thin if Golden State and Houston aren’t involved. The Thunder sometimes approaches games as if it can out-talent foes. This much we know almost two-thirds through the season; the 30-24 Thunder can’t cut corners.

“As of late, the last couple of games, we’ve been waiting until we get hit first to start playing,” Carmelo Anthony said. “We gotta go back to coming out of the game and doing everything, playing hard, extra effort, extra energy. Even more effort and energy and enthusiasm until you get that monkey off your back.”

The Lakers certainly hit the Thunder first. A 12-4 lead out of the chute. A 7-0 LA run after the Thunder took what would be its biggest lead, 42-38, of the game. A 9-2 Laker spurt after the Thunder forged a 51-51 tie early in the third quarter.

The Lakers mostly kept Steven Adams from gobbling up offensive rebounds, the Lakers blitzed the Thunder’s wilting defense for 13-of-30 3-point shooting and Brook Lopez turned back the clock with 20 points.

Carmelo was ineffective again; he made just three of 13 shots, and in the four-game losing streak, Carmelo is shooting 4-of-22 from beyond the arc. Carmelo’s defense isn’t much, and the Lakers repeatedly isolated Julius Randle on Carmelo. It’s not time to bench Carmelo, but it might be time to give Patrick Patterson (who played 12:17 Sunday) more minutes and Carmelo (who played 33:37) less.

Donovan said the depth and versatility of the frontcourt— Adams, Carmelo, Patterson and Jerami Grant— is a strength of the Thunder. But since Roberson’s injury nine days ago, the Thunder has had one (short) practice. Donovan hasn’t had the chance to implement much change.

“I do like Pat being out there,” Donovan said. “I’ve got to find ways to get him some more minutes somehow.”

The Thunder still is talking strong.

“We lost four in a row, that’s where we at,” Westbrook said. “But the best part of this league, you get a chance to play again, in a day and a half, whenever it is we play. It’s fun. Adversity is great. Me personally, I love adversity. Gives you an opportunity to bring your teammates together, bring everybody together. Look forward to positive things. Lots of up and downs. But never flinch. That’s one thing about organization, our team, we never flinch.”

That’s true. The last-minute assault on the Lakers shows that. Same as in Denver on Thursday night, when the Thunder forged a late tie after all looked lost. The Thunder does not quit.

But the Thunder also does not start with a charge of the light brigade. That needs to change now.