Written by Nick Gallo at Thunder.com
In an NBA Playoff series, there is a crucial balance in between games. How do you carry over what you did well while still recognizing the challenges of an entirely new game that awaits?
That’s what the Thunder faces coming off of a 108-70 blowout win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game One of the first round on Saturday night, heading into Game Two on Monday evening at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Head Coach Billy Donovan is at the helm, and he also has a core four of veterans in Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison who have battled through five postseasons of playoff wars together.
Despite the record-setting final margin that the Thunder generated over the Mavericks, the Thunder recognizes that the win only means that the Thunder has done one quarter of the job. To advance, the Thunder must win three more games in this seven game series, playing with the same level of intensity, focus and attention to detail.
“It’s their understanding that it’s only one game and it’s a seven game series,” Donovan explained. “Right now, what happened last night has no bearing on anything. We need to have a level of humility and need to take last night’s game and throw it out the window. We need to take from the game what we can learn and where we can get better and improve.”
Preparation time in between the end of the regular season and Game One was substantial for the Thunder, who had Wednesday off then practices on Thursday and Friday and a shootaround on Saturday to get prepared for Dallas. As many Thunder players referenced, the coaching staff and the scout team did an excellent job of preparing them for all of Dallas’ offensive actions, play calls and schemes. As the Thunder gets ready for Game Two, it will have to be sharp in dealing with those same situations, while also anticipating some potential changes from the Mavericks.
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