The Oklahoma City Thunder have not had a great December, having lost four games in the month. While this is not horrible by any means, it has not met the high standard they have set for themselves.
Before December, the Thunder only had one loss, which was against the Portland Trail Blazers. In this month alone, OKC has lost four games, one against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and three against the San Antonio Spurs. Across the losses, there have been some cracks in the OKC defense, which is arguably the team's biggest strength.
Holmgren knows the Thunder's defense requires effort
In the Thunder's last two losses against the Spurs, OKC gave up 123.5 points per game. For the season, the Thunder have only allowed around 107 points per game, so the Spurs have shown they have the defending champions' number.
Considering that many people have said the Thunder are one of the best defensive teams in NBA history, they have high expectations. Moving forward, they are under a microscope defensively, and they will likely meet those expectations as long as they play hard.
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As the team's defensive anchor, Chet Holmgren knows the Thunder have a high standard to uphold. He believes that playing with a high level of effort can lead to the defensive performances people have gotten accustomed to.
"I don't think it was an adjustment because no matter who we play, we need to get the ball stopped, and get everybody in front of us. I just think, as a collective, we didn't do a great job early on, stopping the ball, and getting guys sat behind the ball... We just had to get back to being us in that area," Holmgren said about the Thunder's defense.
The defense was much better in their bounce-back game against the Philadelphia 76ers. OKC won the game 129-104, which included 29 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks from Holmgren.
As long as they can keep playing like this on both ends of the floor, the Thunder will be a dangerous team. They are the defending champions, so expectations are high, but they must surpass them to keep succeeding because they have huge targets on their backs.
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