There’s no place like home. The Oklahoma City Thunder need Paycom Center after a brutal 0-3 stretch on the latest road trip, which came without head coach Mark Daigneault.
Thanks to those losses, the Thunder slipped to No. 24 overall in the weekly Rookie Wire power rankings. Last week, OKC had risen to No. 21 on the heels of a winning streak.
But since those four wins in a row, the Thunder have gone 1-5 in a difficult stretch that included games against three of the best Eastern Conference teams, the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat.
There’s little argument with where the Thunder, 6-10, are placed in the ranking; every team ahead of them has more than six wins.
Analyst Cody Taylor placed them above the fellow six-win Sacramento Kings, and OKC has one thing that Sac does not: a head coach. Daigneault may not have been around these past three games, but he is still the man in charge. Luke Walton was fired by the Kings and Alvin Gentry took over on an interim basis.
Also below the Thunder are the San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, New Orleans Pelicans and Houston Rockets.
Oklahoma City will try to break its losing streak on Wednesday night with a date against the Utah Jazz. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central Time.
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