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It's all great theater when the Dallas Mavericks sucker the Oklahoma City Thunder into these mind games.
Charlie Villanueva walks through the pre-game dance routine of Russell Westbrook and Cameron Payne like he's Mr. Magoo. Raymond Felton and JJ Barea seem to get under the skin of Russell Westbrook at the drop of a hat. On Saturday Westbrook got a technical foul on the bench while arguing with Salah Mejri after he was pushed by Anthony Morrow.
Later, Kevin Durant would be ejected for a flagrant-2 foul when the game was long decided and it wasn't necessary in any way to swipe at Justin Anderson's head.
It makes you wonder just where the collective mind is for the Thunder as they tune up for what should be the toughest playoff challenge in this Durant-Westbrook era. It's tough to flat-out say the Thunder are mentally weak. They've struggled in a lot of close games this season, but they've also been fairly resilient at times. Even though they dropped Game 2 at home, they bounced back immediately with a convincing victories in Dallas, and now lead the series 3-1.
They've all but sealed their berth in the second-round, where they'll surely face the San Antonio Spurs, who lead Memphis 3-0. OKC should have its mind on bigger things than petty playground talk with a supremely inferior team. Dallas is trying to get under their skin, after all, and it has to indicate at least some level of weakness, or at least immaturity, when it's working so easily.
Saturday night the Mavs pressured the ball intensely. They even ambitiously (foolishly?) tried to full-court press the Thunder, which is just asking Westbrook to carve you up. The result was the Thunder getting quick, easy scores as David Lee laid the red carpet down for Enes Kanter around the hoop. But it also revved OKC up emotionally -- not always a good thing. There's a delicate balance between the ferocity that fuels the games of Westbrook and Durant, and falling into an area where you're struggling to control your emotions.
Nobody doubts the Thunder's talent, especially in this series. The Mavs know flustering them is their only chance. Dallas can't hang with OKC, especially not after the injuries they've endured all season and into the playoffs (Deron Williams now appears done for the year). OKC is just too tall a mountain for Dallas to climb.
Clearly this will not be the case with the Spurs.
The Thunder would be wise to start thinking, and acting, along those lines.
Really, is it asking too much for the Thunder to go out there, take care of business, and not get into all the extracurriculars? It's not to say that can't talk a little trash. Trash talking is fun. Celebrating great plays is fun. Go ahead, flex for the camera after your And-1. But don't let all of that become bigger than the big picture. A championship is the goal, and if you're going to get through a likely Murderer's Row of the Spurs, Warriors and Cavs, you better believe you're going to need to do more than talk a good game.
San Antonio, mind you, is the best defensive team since the 2004-05 rule changes. Nobody has defended this era better than Gregg Popovich's team, and they feast on mental weakness. They don't trick you into losing your head. With their methodical destruction of everything you think you're good at when it comes to the game of basketball, they force you to self-destruct.
Seeing the Thunder rattle so easily, even in moments of dominance, just breeds desperation against the elite opponents. A sense of urgency and desperation can be channeled in the right moments, but not when the other team feasts on you cutting corners and taking the bait. It's why this series against Dallas is so troubling for OKC and their fans.
They're the better team. It's not close. Nobody doubts this series is over outside of the people employed by Mark Cuban, and even they probably do. So why are you falling for the mental chicanery? Why are you beating your chest at the other team instead of celebrating with your own? Why are you letting Salah Mejri and Charlie Villanueva dictate your temper? It doesn't mean the end of the Thunder and it doesn't mean they can't pull it together in the next round.
But as the higher seed and a supposed championship contender, you're supposed to be using this round as a building block. Instead, OKC looks like it's the young, brash, upstart team looking to make a name for itself. We know who the Thunder are. They don't need to draw this kind of attention to themselves.
We know the talent is there. But where are their heads?
