The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals despite having raced out to a 3-1 series lead. What does OKC need to improve on? Mental toughness, says Russell Westbrook. From Berry Tramel and Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman:
Russell Westbrook said the Thunder has “a great team, a lot of guys that can contribute in a lot of different ways as you’ve seen, a lot of guys that improved over the season, not just starting in the playoffs, but gotten better mentally, and I think that’s the main part, not just physically but mentally gotten better and made us a better team.”
But, Westbrook admitted, OKC can improve mentally. “Mental toughness,” he said. “I think we’ve gotten very, very well at that point, but I think to make the next step, we have to constantly do that throughout the whole season, not just late in the playoffs, because I thought we turned the page when it got to this time of year, but I think if we constantly keep that from start to finish, it makes it easier for us in certain situations.”
Westbrook is absolutely correct. Few, if any teams collapsed as badly as the Thunder in fourth quarters this season. The team massively underachieved during the regular season. However, in the playoffs, they seemed to have turned things around. OKC was playing the best basketball that they ever have in the series vs. the Spurs, and in the beginning of the Warriors series. Unfortunately, they gave up the 3-1 lead against the Warriors, which once again calls their mental toughness into question.
