The more time we get between the present and the Pacers game on the 10th, the more painful losing the Pacers game on the 10th becomes.  Same with the Hawks at home.  How different would 3 and 7 feel than 1 and 9?  And it’s not just that we lose; it’s that we lose the deed to the ranch.  In our Thunder podcasts, we’ve talked recently about what the team is missing – long range shooting here, point guard leadership there.  The recent spate of routs makes it seem like the deficits are now so well known they are being exploited to greater opponent success every game.  They’re leaving our inside players alone in order to pile up on the wings, making things tough on our young guns.  It’s beginning to defy analysis.  Nothing is working at all.

But you can find some decent half-popped kernels in the burned popcorn bag, and you can find some positives here.  Despite the double-teams, Jeff Green is looking sharp – 10 of 15 for 21 points against the Sixers tonight.  If he keeps this up, he’s going to start freeing up Durant to rule from the other side.  It may sound like a reach at this point, but another positive we can hang onto is that this can’t last forever.  Even last year’s Sonics team, which by many accounts was worse off than this crew, won 20 games. That used to seem like a small number to me.  But it’s getting bigger the longer we sit on win number 1.

We need some home wins to keep the coals hot under this thing.  Coincidentally, we’ve got a home stand coming up next week.  The bad news – it involves the Rockets and the Hornets.  I always wondered if the Hornets’ sort-of-homecoming would be a fun occasion.  “Hey Hornets, we remember you.  Hey look, we have a team now too!  We can lose our voices double tonight!”  But if we lose to the Rockets and the Clippers, I for one am not greeting the Hornets so warmly.  We’re starved for a win.  We might have to beat up on our cousin to get it.  Unfortunately, our cousin is bigger than we are.

Hang in there people.  Hang in there team.  I have no doubt changes are coming.  If Green can keep hitting 3-pointers, if one of the centers can begin to stand out, if we could stop throwing passes to the opposition, any one of several different things could change the dynamic.  It’s going to get better.  Heck, it has to.