The Thunder are falling apart

Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports

It has been quite the eventful season for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Kevin Durant has barely played and has undergone three foot procedures on the same foot, and the reigning MVP is done for the season. Russell Westbrook missed a month with a broken hand, only to return and then run roughshod over the league in February and most of March. Serge Ibaka recently had knee surgery and is likely done for the regular season, and there have been numerous other injuries as well.

Even despite all of this, the Thunder appeared to be in pretty good shape in the Western Conference playoff picture just a few weeks ago. The New Orleans Pelicans were in the midst of a four-game losing streak and the Phoenix Suns were slumping, and that resulted in a rather comfortable 3½-game over New Orleans after the games on March 25.

But Oklahoma City has fallen apart. After getting trounced by the San Antonio Spurs by 39 on March 25, the Thunder have proceeded to lose five more games out of six and four games in a row after another shellacking at the hands of the Spurs on Tuesday night. So that’s six losses in seven games, and with the Pelicans beating the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City has fallen out of the eighth spot in the West.

The Thunder still do have a more favorable schedule in the last few games, but because the Pelicans own the tiebreaker between the two teams, the half-game difference is more like 1½ games.

Westbrook is slowing down after his ridiculous run. While he’s still putting up gaudy numbers, his efficiency has taken a nosedive, and it really shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Given his playing style and how much energy he has been exerting the past few months, it was only a matter of time before he began to buckle under the immense pressure of carrying the team without Durant and Ibaka.

Not only has Westbrook slowed down offensively, but the team defense has been a train wreck. With Ibaka out of the lineup, there’s little rim protection, and Enes Kanter has been a disaster on that end. Kanter has been really good for the Thunder on offense, but his defense has been so bad that he has been a negative on the whole.

For the longest time, Oklahoma City had good odds to win the championship despite the record and the injuries, because the assumption was always that Durant would return to the court. But now that he’s done and the Thunder are fading, those odds are down to 150/1, per VegasInsider.com. The Pelicans are at just 200/1, but at this point, it feels like New Orleans would put up a better fight than Oklahoma City against Golden State in the first round.